A fire that destroyed a home on Del Rio Drive in High Ridge today (Jan. 4) is under investigation.
No one was home at the time of the fire, said Fire Chief Mike Arnhart of the High Ridge Fire Protection District.
“The owners are on vacation,” he said.
The home was “a total loss,” Arnhart said.
The fire district received a call about the fire around 10:30 a.m. and arrived on the scene about three minutes later. When they arrived, about 75 percent of the house was in flames, Arnhart said.
The fire came at a difficult time for the fire district because flooding forced the conservation of water in Public Water Supply District 2.
High Ridge Fire’s careful planning, however, meant it was prepared when it needed to be, Arnhart said.
The district began with three full tankers, and an operation for drafting water was set up.
“As soon as we knew it was a working fire, we had Cedar Hill (Fire Protection District) set up a drafting site at Lake Montowese (in Byrnes Mill),” Arnhart said. “We were planning for this. Had we not had our plan in place, it could have caused a problem.”
Although there were fire hydrants in the area, they could not be used because of the water district’s shortage of water. So, locating areas where water could be drawn in advance was crucial, Arnhart said.
“In about an hour, we had the fire under control,” he said.
Firefighters were on the scene for about three hours, Arnhart said.
“We didn’t use as much water as we anticipated,” he said.
Firefighters from the Cedar Hill, Fenton, Antonia and Goldman fire districts assisted with the call. About 20 firefighters were on the scene, Arnhart said.
The Missouri Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the fire.