Five-Alarm Fire Serves as Unlikely Backdrop to Wedding Photos
J.T. and Carly Morrissey have one more reason to remember their special day.
— -- One Arizona couple is thankful that no one was injured after a nearby fire almost shut down their wedding reception.
Extreme heat caused a fire to erupt at a nearby apartment building under construction, causing massive clouds of billowing smoke to loom overhead while J.T. and Carly Morrissey had their first dance at wedding venue, Shenandoah Mill, in Gilbert, Arizona.
The moment was captured by their photographer in snaps that are now getting attention on Facebook. Eric Butler of Pixel Dust Photography wrote as a caption, "The fire started just as we kicked off their first dance around 6 pm."
J.T. told ABC News that they didn't think anything was awry when he and his wife heard sirens.
His wife Carly agreed.
"I remember getting on the dance floor and being excited about it," she recalled. "And I remember making that first turn and just seeing that big gray plume of smoke and [saying], 'What's going on?' And I remember thinking, 'OK, well, I'm sure it's no big deal."
It turns out that the local fire department had to deploy "more than 40 fire trucks and 120 firefighters," according to its Twitter account, to fight the blaze that erupted on Civic Center Drive. Although nearby residents had to be evacuated, there was surprisingly only one injury -- a firefighter had to be taken to the hospital for a heat-related injury, according to ABC News affiliate KNXV-TV in Phoenix.
J.T. said that he and other wedding guests were "extremely relieved" after hearing no one was seriously injured from the blaze.
"We're really thankful for all of the first responders and firefighters...and everyone that went there to make sure it stayed under control and make sure everybody was OK," he said.