Structure fires Friday and Saturday kept Poplar Bluff firefighters busy. Off duty crews were called back to assist in battling the flames, according to fire officials.
No information regarding cause has been released for either fire, but the state fire marshal has been called in to investigate the two incidents.
Poplar Bluff Fire Chief Mike Moffitt said, “On Saturday, we were at our minimum staffing level which is seven men. When we are at minimum staffing and have a working structure fire like we had Saturday we must call back off duty firefighters to assist in extinguishing the fire. With older structures most have solid wood construction and many voids which makes it difficult to fully extinguish.
Moffitt continued, “When we are working at a structure fire, we still have the rest of the city that requires protection. If we have to have a crew break away from a working structure fire, we may have a delayed response time. I feel the public deserves to have a fresh crew ready to respond to their needs whatever that may be. So, we have an S.O.G. that states any time we have a working three alarm structure fire we will call an off-duty crew in to stand-by at Fire Station #1.”
The call backs began after fire crews responded at 9:29 a.m. Friday, to 1330 Abington St. to a fire in a single-story, single-family wood-frame structure.
According to the report, when the first crew arrived “heavy flames were coming from the roof.” Firefighters pulled the ceiling down to fight the fire in the attic.
Firefighters used 2,000 gallons of water and were on the scene until 10:41 a.m.
At 8:25 a.m. Saturday, firefighters responded to a structure fire at 1044 Nooney St. near Valley.
Heavy smoke was present when firefighters arrived at the one-story, single-family dwelling. The fire report described the home as having a tall crawl space with heavy vegetation around the sides.
According to reports, upon arrival, an occupant stated two people were inside. Firefighters entered the structure, which was filled with heavy smoke, to rescue the others. They were then notified all the occupants were out of the building and in the front yard.
Assessing the scene, crews used a defensive mode of fighting the fire from the outside of the structure. As the scene worsened, not only were the call-back crews notified, the rest of A Shift was brought back into work, according to the fire reports.
They worked to extinguish the fire from the outside until conditions were safe enough to enter the structure and continue to extinguish the remaining hot spots. The majority of the crews left the scene at 12:16 p.m., after using 6,000 gallons of water. The last fighters left the scene at 3:10 p.m.
Poplar Bluff police officers and workers from Municipal Utilities also assisted at the fire scenes.
Friday, the A Shift crew originally responded to the 1330 Abington St. fire, including Toby Tuggle, the acting battalion chief; Chad Bell, captain of Station 3; and Andrew Fox, acting captain of Station 2
Saturday, the B Shift Crew originally responded to 1024 Nooney St. fire, including B Shift crew Kevin Edgar, acting battalion chief; Travis Taylor, acting captain of Station 2; and Justin Moyers, captain of Station 3.