A family of six escaped a blaze on April 13 that destroyed their farmhouse in the 4900 block of Hwy. B in Hillsboro, said Assistant Chief Brian Gaudet of the Hillsboro Fire Protection District.
“They were at home and had to escape the fire by jumping out the windows,” Gaudet said.
One man was injured, Gaudet added.
“A resident had minor burns and he was treated on the scene by Valle Ambulance personnel,” Gaudet said.
At 5:13 p.m., Hillsboro Fire got a call about the fire, and when firefighters arrived at 5:20 p.m., they “found a two-story farmhouse with fire throughout the first and second floor, and the roof was beginning to collapse,” Gaudet said.
The family told firefighters that the man was upstairs and the woman and four children were on the first level when the fire broke out, Gaudet said.
“I believe the man was sleeping at the time of the fire, woke up and noticed smoke,” Gaudet said.
About the same time, the rest of the family also noticed fire and smoke and quickly got out of the house, he said.
A second alarm was struck to bring in more personnel, Gaudet said.
He said several factors made the blaze difficult to fight.
One factor, Gaudet said, was that the house was very old, so outdated construction techniques had been used. For example, on the first level, concrete filled the space between the interior wall and the exterior wall.
“It makes it very difficult to get through the walls to the burning debris,” he said.
The second problem was high winds that fanned the flames in the old house, Gaudet said.
Firefighters used hoses to douse the fire and eventually brought in a ladder truck from the Dunklin Fire Protection District and poured water on the fire from above.
“That’s pretty much how we finished extinguishing the fire,” Gaudet said. “The building was unsafe when we arrived. We could not send firefighters into the building.”
The state Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the fire, he said.
“We probably will not know the cause of the fire because of the damage,” Gaudet said.
The fire district helped the family connect with the American Red Cross, which put the family up for the evening, he said.
Gaudet said, however, that the residents have a large extended family that may also help.
Firefighters “had the fire under control in about 40 minutes and were on the scene until 9 p.m. taking care of hot spots,” Gaudet said.
The De Soto Rural, Dunklin, High Ridge, Mapaville, Goldman and Cedar Hill fire protection districts and the De Soto Fire Department helped with the call, as did the Valle Ambulance District, Gaudet said.