Holiday Fires Stretch Rural Departments

By Corey Preston, coreypreston@miconews.com

The holidays were unfortunately busy for Linn County rural firefighters, but responders were able to limit damage from three separate structure fires that flared up in a span of less than a week.

Two separate calls, one in Mound City and the other in Sugar Valley, stretched the department’s resources on the evening of Dec. 20, according to rural fire chief Doug Barlet, and a third fire just outside the Pleasanton city limits was called in on the afternoon of Dec. 26.

“We were able to keep most of the damage limited to the room of origin,” Barlet said. “We saved the majority of the structures on all three, which is something the firefighters can be proud of and obviously it’s good news for the people.”

The Dec. 26 fire at the intersection of U.S. Highway 69 and 1000 Road originated in an attic area and spread to a closet before firefighters put the fire down.

On Dec. 20, firefighters had just answered a call in Mound City along Locust Avenue, where a fire began in a first-floor room before spreading to the room above, when a call came in from Sugar Valley.

“While we were working on getting it knocked down that second call came in,” Barlet said. “So I went down, Blue Mound and one unit from Pleasanton, they left the first fire to get out to the second one.”

The cause of the fire in Sugar Valley, which originated in the basement, is being investigated by state fire marshals, Barlet said, while the investigation into the Mound City fire is being handled by city chief David Cravin, who could not be reached for comment.

The cause of the fire in Pleasanton has not yet been officially determined, but Barlet said he suspected the fire began with an electric heater.

Barlet said the firefighters’ success in putting down the fires relatively quickly was primarily due to quick notice.

He noted that a few weeks ago a fire on Kansas Highway 7 was in a more rural area, and wasn’t reported until significant damage had already been done.

“But when you get a fire in Mound City, it’s going to get seen a lot quicker and someone’s going to call it in right away,” Barlet said. “It helps to get there before the structure’s already gone.”