A fire early Jan. 20 destroyed a house in the Lake Wauwanoka subdivision in the Hillsboro area and displaced the man who lived there, Hillsboro Fire Chief Brian Gaudet said.
In a written statement, Gaudet said the Hillsboro Fire Protection District received a call around 3:35 a.m. about the fire at the house in the 200 block of North Lake Drive. When crews arrived, the single-story house with a basement had heavy fire throughout the approximately 2,700-sqaure-foot main floor, and about half of the roof had collapsed.
Firefighters searched the house and determined the man who lived there was at a neighbor’s house before and during the fire, according to the report.
“Water shuttle operations were established due to the limited water supply in the area,” Gaudet reported. “Utilities were secured and Ameren was requested to respond to the scene to assist with electrical services.”
The cause of the fire had not been determined, but was not considered suspicious, he said Tuesday.
Gaudet said temperatures in the teens made it more difficult to fight the fire.
“Cold weather always makes it a little tougher,” he said. “It makes it very icy and you have to worry about falls.”
The Festus and Herculaneum fire departments and the De Soto Rural, Dunklin, Mapaville, Goldman, Antonia, Hematite, Cedar Hill, and Jefferson R-7 fire protection districts helped with the call. The Valle Ambulance District and Jefferson County 911 Dispatch assisted Hillsboro Fire, Gaudet said.
He said firefighters left the scene about 8:15 a.m.