Three people are without a home, at least temporarily, after a fire damaged a house in the 500 block of South Fourth Street in Festus early Sunday (Jan. 20), said Chuck Boyer of the Festus Fire Department.
“They all got out safely,” he said. “(Two brothers), a godson and a dog were able to get out safely.”
The department got a call at 2:38 a.m. about the fire, and firefighters were able to contain the blaze, but the home already had been damaged, Boyer said.
“It’s not a total loss,” he said. “But, they cannot live there until repairs are made. That could be a few months. There was significant damage to the living room.”
He said one of the occupants spotted a glow coming from a ceiling light in the middle of the night.
“The fire started in the wiring of a light in the ceiling in the living room,” Boyer said. “They have working smoke detectors, but they didn’t go off because there was no smoke. Once we started pulling out the ceiling, smoke was revealed.”
Boyer said severe cold temperatures made it difficult for firefighters to tackle the blaze.
“It was 14 degrees with a wind chill,” he said.
Fortunately, no firefighters were injured, Boyer said.
He said the Red Cross arranged for the three occupants to temporarily stay at a local hotel.
The Crystal City and Herculaneum fire departments and the R-7 and Dunklin fire protection district helped with the call, and the Mapaville Fire Protection District moved up to cover the Festus firehouse.