An early morning fire severely damaged a home in the Fond Du Lac subdivision in the Fenton area on Monday (Oct. 9). The woman who lives in the home was not there when the fire broke out, High Ridge Fire Chief Tom Lakin said.
At 3:58 a.m., the High Ridge Fire Protection District got a call about the fire, and firefighters arrived at the scene on West Lakewood Drive about five minutes later, Lakin said. He believes a neighbor made the 911 call.
When they arrived, firefighters found “lots of fire on both sides of the house,” Lakin said. “There was no car and no apparent person at home at the time of the fire.”
Firefighters took only a short time to put out the fire, but much of the damage was already done, Lakin said.
“It must have been burning a long time. It’s just that no one noticed it until it broke through,” he said. “It did heavy damage to the house. It was quite an intense fire for a while.”
The house had “considerable damage” with smoke and heat damage throughout the house,” Lakin said. “Most of the fire damage was concentrated in the living room area.”
It was fortunate that the subdivision had a water source, “which we don’t have everywhere in our district,” Lakin said.
The fire was extinguished and trucks began leaving the scene at about 5:30 a.m.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the state Fire Marshal’s office were called to help investigate the fire. As of Tuesday (Oct. 10), the fire was still under investigation, but a preliminary report from the fire marshal said there was nothing obviously suspicious about it, Lakin said.
A neighbor contacted the owner of the home who was out of town at the time, and she arrived at the house while investigators were still on the scene.
“He (an investigator) talked to her extensively,” Lakin said.
The American Red Cross assisted her with emergency food, clothing and shelter, Lakin said.
The Fenton and Saline Valley fire protection districts assisted High Ridge with the fire.
All trucks were back in service by 7:30 a.m., Lakin said.