A 53-year-old Festus woman lost her life in a fire early this morning (Oct. 4) in the Westowne Parc Mobile Home Court in Festus, said Chuck Boyer, assistant chief of the Festus Fire Department.
Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said this morning that he was waiting for the Medical Examiner’s Office to positively identify the woman before releasing her name.
A neighbor saw smoke pouring from the woman’s mobile home at 174 Barberry Drive and called 911 Dispatch at 3:32 a.m. to report the fire, Boyer said.
Firefighters arrived on the scene at 3:38 a.m. and found smoke coming from the home. The fire was in the living room of the mobile home, he said.
“We made entry and did a quick knock down on the fire,” Boyer said.
He said firefighters found the woman on the floor. Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District personnel pronounced the woman dead at the scene.
The woman was well known to emergency medical service personnel, Boyer said.
“She had some medical issues,” he said. “I think the last time they were there was about a month ago. She had fallen.”
The cause of the fire is undetermined, and the Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating it, Boyer said.
“It’s not considered suspicious,” he said.
The Crystal City and Herculaneum fire departments and the Hematite and Dunklin fire protection districts assisted with the call, and the Mapaville Fire Protection District covered the Festus Fire Department, Boyer said.