Several local fire agencies battled a fire that destroyed a vacant house in the 500 block of North Second Street in De Soto this morning, Jan. 16.
Fire Chief Tony Ochoa said firefighters were dispatched to the home at 10:10 a.m. after someone called 911 to report seeing flames coming through a back window. When the first crew arrived at 10:14 a.m., heavy fire was in the back of the house and heavy smoke was coming from the front of the house.
“The doors on the front of the house had plywood over them,” he said. “It had been abandoned for a while.”
At 10:30 a.m., the call was upgraded from a first-alarm to a second-alarm fire to get more firefighters. The fire was brought under control at about noon, Ochoa said.
He said no injuries were reported and the Missouri State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the fire. As of Thursday afternoon, the cause had not been determined.
The De Soto Rural, Hillsboro, Jefferson R-7, Cedar Hill, Hematite, Dunklin, St. Clair and the Big River fire protection districts and the Festus and Crystal City fire departments were among the agencies that helped with the fire.