Emergency crews fight several fires in Scott County

SCOTT COUNTY, Mo. (KBSI) – The Scott County Rural Fire Protection District is under a burn ban until further notice.

This is after firefighters in Scott County had a busy weekend fighting fires.

Saturday, September 7 the agency responded to seven calls for service with five of them being vegetation fires. Four out of the five were in the Scott County Rural Fire Protection District. One of the calls theey assisted another agency. Firefighters say the fire began from a person burning trash on his property.

The Oran Fire District, Benton Fire Department, NBC Fire District, Sikeston Fire District, Morehouse Fire Department, Scott County Sheriff’s Office and South Scott EMS assisted.

“Although I am very proud and thankful for the area fire districts, everyone is getting tired. We understand that accidents happen but STOP BURNING until we get some rain. Open Burning during a burn ban is a punishable offense, so please hold off on burning until we get some much needed rain,” said Scott County Rural Fire Protection District Fire Chief J. Perrien in a post on the fire protection district’s Facebook page.

Firefighters were paged to Highway 61 south of Morley for a report of a large fire at 1:48 p.m. on Friday, September 6.

Firefighters found heavy fire conditions in a field with several structures in danger and roughly 20 mile an hour winds pushing out of the north. Firefighters say that forced the fire south at a very rapid rate. Two small structures were a total loss and another home received extensive damage to the outside of the structure.

Thirteen fire service agencies reponded to assist.  Multiple agencies out of Scott County, New Madrid County, Stoddard County and Cape Girardeau County were called into assist. The agencies that responded were Scott Co. Rural, Oran, NBC, Sikeston, Miner, Morehouse, Matthews, Charleston, Benton, Delta, Gordonville, Bloomfield and Bell City.

Crews from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office, Morley police, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Department of Transportation, Ameren UE, South Scott EMS, Cookson Farms and Hulshof Farms assisted. CB MetalworX brought a skid steer. Firefighters say that was a “huge help to the incident.” The Morley VFW opened up for the agencies and fed them food and refreshments.

Sikeston Department of Public Safety drones were used. The Miner Police Department assists crews with locating hot spots within the dense wooded areas.

This also provided a bird’s eye veiw for command to assist with fire operations and the placement of equipment.

Director Rodgers of the Scott County 911 Emergency Service Board assisted with traffic control.

Crews worked for approximately four hours before the fire was deemed under control.

Crews worked for about six hours after the initial call came out.