Grass fire ignites house on Monday

A grass fire Monday night turned into a structure fire, and the Missouri State Fire Marshal is investigating.

Poplar Bluff firefighters responded to a reported grass fire at 8:54 p.m. Monday at 318 E. Henry St. According to Captain Chad Bell’s report, they were told the fire was getting close to the structure. Three minutes later when the first truck arrived, flames were coming from the rear of the home.

The second group of firefighters arrived within four minutes of receiving the call and the third crew responded shortly thereafter.

Firefighters determined the fire had made its way to the attic, Bell said. Once the exterior fire was extinguished, the three crews pulled the ceilings down, gaining access to the attic and extinguished the fire there. They used the thermal imaging camera to locate hot spots and fan to ventilate the structure.

Salvage tarps were deployed to cover the furniture. The owner, Kathy Fain, requested medication and wallets be removed.

While the majority of the fire crews left in about two hours, Fire Chief Mike Moffitt remained at the scene until midnight with the fire marshal. The chief contacted the Red Cross.

The crews used 1,500 gallons of water at the scene.

The home had a battery operated fire detector, but it failed.

Among the 10 firefighters at the scene were Austin Armes, Bell, Lt. Joshua Buhler, Kenneth Felts, Lt. Andrew Fox, Battalion Chief Stacy Harmon, Mykel Limanen, Tanner Tibbs, Captain Toby Tuggle and Moffitt. Also at the scene were Poplar Bluff police and Municipal Utilities staff.