Midnight blaze in Poplar Bluff: Firefighters battle shed fire fueled by rubbish

Poplar Bluff firefighters battled a blaze Thursday in an unsecured shed at 118 Lexington Ave., using 999 gallons of water to extinguish it. The fire, which damaged nearby properties, occurred shortly after midnight.

Firefighters from three stations spent more than an hour at the site. At one time, homeless individuals had been sleeping in the shed, said individuals at the scene.

The crews responded at 12:24 a.m. to the address and found an unsecured outbuilding fully involved in fire. The building contained tools.

Battalion Chief Jeff Hale’s report stated the backyard was covered with rubbish and had several fires burning in it.

According to Hale’s report, “We used the attack line off of one apparatus to extinguish the fire. We used all the tank water off one apparatus and then connected the line to another apparatus and used 500 gallons of water.”

The fire melted the siding at 118 Lexington where Ronald Rutledge lives and melted the siding at 114 Lexington, which is occupied by Cody Hendrix and owned by Rick Cockran.

The three crews cleared the scene at 1:39 a.m.

Firefighters also at the scene Justin Moyers, Tyler Daggett, Tyler Gutterman, Justin Maddock, Travis Taylor, Dustin Graves and Jamie Watson.

A candle ignited a mattress fire on the 15th floor of a multifamily building on Hazel Street, but quick action by Poplar Bluff Housing Maintenance and fire crews prevented major damage, according to reports.

Battalion Chief Jeff Hale‘s report stated an alarm came in at 9:48 a.m. Wednesday, March 5, a mattress was on fire in the north tower of the Twin Towers. When crew members from each of the three stations arrived, housing maintenance had almost extinguished the fire. The fire had been too small to activate the hardwired battery backup detectors, reports stated.

“We used water extinguishers to fully extinguish the fire,” Hale’s report stated. “We then removed the mattress and box-spring from the building before clearing the scene.”

The three crews had responded from the main fire station on Broadway.

Firefighters at the scene were Justin Moyers, Tyler Daggett, Tyler Gutterman, Justin Maddock, Travis Taylor, Dustin Graves, Jamie Watson, Hale and Fire Chief Mike Moffitt.