LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — Two Winfield-Foley firefighters had a close call on the scene of a house fire on Highway Y in Lincoln County Tuesday morning.
A forward-facing brick wall collapsed, narrowly missing the firefighters that were putting a hose in place in the front yard.
“Just after we walked through there, we had a partial collapse of that wall,” Winfield-Foley Fire Chief Arron Lee said.
The collapsing wall missed the firefighters by a matter of feet.
“We’re just trained to observe the building construction and the way the fire has progressed," Lee said. "So, in this situation, there was nothing more holding this wall up. The wall ended up falling out. We were kind of expecting that. Luckily, nobody was injured, when it happened.”
Chief Lee said it’s an occupational hazard for first-responders.
“Firefighting is a very dangerous job,” he said. “We always have to keep our heads on a swivel to be sure we’re out of harm’s way.”
Lee said state fire marshal officials are investigating the cause of that fire.
With the onset of colder temperatures, Chief Lee had a winter checklist for people to consult in order to prevent house fires:
- make sure you have working smoke detectors in every bedroom, hallway and other living areas
- close bedroom doors at night; this will limit fire spread and afford you time to escape through a window
- have an evacuation plan; make sure you have two means of escape and a meeting place, outside
- make sure space heaters are not touching objects near them; plug space heaters directly into an outlet, not an extension cord.