A woman was seriously injured Tuesday, July 9, in a house fire in the Cape Town Village subdivision in High Ridge. The fire also left the residents of that home and a neighboring one displaced, said High Ridge Fire Chief John Barton.
At 9:33 p.m., the High Ridge Fire Protection District got a call about the fire in the 5300 block of Winthrop Drive, and when firefighters arrived, the house that first caught fire was nearly fully engulfed in flames, which had spread to the side of a neighboring house, Barton said.
He said the husband and wife who live at the home that first caught fire were able to escape before emergency crews arrived. The wife was transported to Mercy Hospital St. Louis with serious injuries, including burns, and the husband did not request medical treatment.
Barton said a 15-year-old babysitter was at the neighboring home with a 3-year-old, a 1-year-old and a dog at the time of the fire.
The babysitter managed to get herself, the children and the dog out of the burning house in less than three minutes, and none of them were injured, he said.
“It was a substantial amount of fire (at both homes),” Barton said. “You could see the glow of the house fire as we were leaving the station. The whole front (of the first house) was on fire.”
He said the fire possibly originated from the utility area between the two homes. Emergency crews’ efforts to put out the fire were stalled while a gas service company dug up a gas line to stop a leak. The fire was considered under control at 11:50 p.m.
“There was a significant gas leak that we think was blowing the fire – similar to a blow torch effect – that caught the initial house we were called to on fire,” Barton said. “It’s difficult for us to determine in the sequence of events that happened if there was a fire that burned the gas line and caused the leak or if there was a leak and something ignited the gas leak. Essentially, we believe the fire started on the outside of that second, neighboring address and then worked its way over to the house that we wound up being initially called to.”
Barton said the cause of the fire was not ruled suspicious.
He said the Red Cross was called to assist the family from the neighboring home. The parents of the two young children arrived on the scene as crews were working to put out the fire, he said.
The two homes are uninhabitable as a result of the fire, Barton said.
Barton said the High Ridge Fire Board of Directors plan to honor the babysitter at the board meeting at 4 p.m. Aug. 5 at Station 1, 2842 High Ridge Blvd.
The Fenton, Valley Park, Eureka, Saline Valley and Cedar Hill fire protection districts assisted at the scene. The North Jefferson County Ambulance District also was on the scene. Barton said all the crews left the scene at 1:30 a.m. on July 10.