A number of chickens and cats died early Jan. 16 in a fire at a barn in the 2100 block of Hillview Drive just south of De Soto.
“I think it was a couple of cats and about a dozen chickens,” Fire Chief Tom Fitzgerald reported.
The barn was totaled, he added.
“It was a (30-by-40-foot barn),” Fitzgerald said.
De Soto Rural Fire Protection got a call at 1:30 a.m. about the fire, he said.
Fitzgerald said no firefighters were injured battling the fire.
“We contained the fire from spreading,” he said. “We were out there until about 4 a.m.”
As of Tuesday (Jan. 21), the cause of the fire had not been determined, Fitzgerald said.
“It’s not suspicious,” he said. “They had a heating lamp in there for the chickens, but the cause is still under investigation.”
The De Soto Fire Department and the Big River, Hillsboro, Jefferson R-7, Hematite and Cedar Hill fire protection districts helped with the call, as did the Valle Ambulance District.