A fire destroyed a vacant house in the 5300 block of Kaiser Lane in the Victoria area northeast of De Soto, said John Scullin, deputy chief for the De Soto Rural Fire Protection District..
He said the district got a call about the fire at 2:23 p.m. March 27. A volunteer firefighter arrived within four minutes, and the first firetruck arrived at 2:34 p.m. to find the one-a-half-story house about 80 percent engulfed in flames.
“The second story collapsed into the first,” Scullin said.
He said the cause of the fire was undetermined.
Firefighters remained on the scene until 4:22 p.m., Scullin said.
He said the Hematite and Hillsboro fire protection districts and the Festus and De Soto fire departments assisted. The Valle Ambulance District also responded to the scene.
As of April 1, the fire district had responded to 482 calls this year, which is more than usual, Scullin said.
“We are much busier than we used to be,” he said, adding that moderate drought conditions have increased brush fire calls this year.