Missouri Division of Fire Safety assists in criminal investigation into fire that damaged 6 structures

JACKSON COUNTY, Mo. (KCTV) – The Missouri Division of Fireplace Security is aiding in an ongoing prison investigation right into a fast-moving hearth that broken six buildings Monday close to twenty first Avenue and Spring Avenue in unincorporated Jackson County, Missouri.

The flames fueled by robust winds and dry circumstances unfold dangerously near a cellular house the place Penny Strassle Creason and her household slept. Family members and a neighbor banged on their door and on the facet of their house to alert them.

“As we had been getting off the bed, you may already really feel the warmth from the hearth coming by the trailer wall,” Creason mentioned. “It was so scorching. It simply turns into a panic to get the children out and the canine out.”

The members of the family anxious their house would quickly be engulfed in flames. A relative grabbed a backyard hose to soak their house’s outer partitions, timber, and brush.

“We simply turned it on full blast,” Creason mentioned. “As soon as the hearth division obtained right here, they left us a hose in case something had come over the wall.”

She mentioned an aged neighbor’s cellular house was additionally surrounded by flames.

“Folks misplaced their properties down there,” Creason mentioned. “It jumped her home. I do not know how however, by the grace of God, it was a full flame and it jumped over her home and didn’t burn it.”

Inter Metropolis Fireplace Safety District Fireplace Chief Jeffery Jewell mentioned that, over the past two weeks, firefighters have responded to a latest rash of what seem like deliberately set grass and vacant construction fires. Crews battled seven fires in a single evening.

“With these winds, we actually might have burned down an entire block,” Jewell mentioned Monday. “Scary scenario.”

Twenty-five firefighters from Independence helped extinguish the hearth close to twenty first and Spring. Jewell mentioned it was the third hearth Inter Metropolis Fireplace Safety District firefighters responded to Sunday evening into Monday morning.

Jewell mentioned attainable accelerants had been found close to one of many hearth scenes. He requested further regulation enforcement patrols within the space.

“I feel it’s ridiculous as a result of there are households that dwell right here,” Creason mentioned of the latest suspicious fires. “That would have killed individuals.”

The Inter Metropolis Fireplace Safety District is providing a $1,000 reward for info. Anybody with info can name the Missouri Arson Hotline at 1-800-39-ARSON (1-800-392-7766). Callers can stay nameless.

Earlier protection:

Deliberately-set hearth spreads to six homes in Jackson County, a latest pattern in that neighborhood

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