The Regional Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the man who was found dead on Thanksgiving Day during a fire at a home in the 500 block of South Adams Street in Festus. The victim was Ryan Mosslander, who was 35.
The Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man today, Dec. 3, but had not determined his cause of death.
The Festus Fire Department received a call about the fire at 1:10 p.m. Nov. 27, and firefighters found the man’s body in the house, Festus Fire Chief Jeff Broombaugh.
“It’s a one-story house,” Broombaugh said. “When firefighters arrived, there was heavy smoke showing.”
He said firefighters had the blaze under control by 1:42 p.m. Investigators remained at the scene until about 6:55 p.m.,
No firefighters reported injuries during the incident, he said.
Broombaugh said the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
The house “will need extensive repairs” before anyone may live there, Broombaugh said.
“There was heavy damage to two rooms, plus a lot of smoke damage throughout the house,” he said.
The Crystal City and Herculaneum fire departments and Hematite, Mapaville, Dunklin, Jefferson R-7 and Rock Community fire protection districts helped with the call, and the Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District also responded to the scene.