DESOTO, Mo. — Since February 18, De Soto Rural Fire and Rescue has responded to 100 calls; 35 were brush fires and 17 were structure fires.
“Last year we had a total of 96 brush alarms. We do run a lot of brush fires, but the drought, the wind has just been unseasonably cruel to us. So the crews have been running pretty much 24/7. All of the different crews have been busy,” De Soto Rural Fire Deputy Chief John Scullin said.
Scullin says many of the brush fires recently started as controlled burns and got out of hand. Some of them even happened on red flag days when burning was discouraged.
“The biggest problem is people just wait too long to call until there's a structure in danger or livestock. And by that time, the wind's gotten hold of it, and it's just out of control most of the time,” Scullin said.
When that happens a crew of two firefighters will head out in a brush truck and start the grueling task of what they call ‘cutting a line.’
“With hand tools you’ll dig down to the dirt under the base layer, trying to stop that fire and make a fire line. Leaf blowers help with just making a path big enough to stop that fire after the initial fire line is set. We go back through, widen them, and make sure they're good so the fire's not going to jump in the future,” firefighter Jacob Coleman said.
De Soto Rural Fire says out of their 174 square mile district only 5 percent of the area has any sort of water source or hydrant.
“The brush trucks are usually carrying about 200 gallons of water. That's why we bring these big trucks with us so we can fill the brush trucks up. But a lot of times we do have to call for more help because we need that much manpower and water,” Coleman said.
Scullin says there are a few ways neighbors can help them and it all starts with calling the firehouse.
“We want people to stop, look at the weather. Most importantly, if the humidity is low and the wind is high, anything over six, seven, eight miles per hour and gusts especially, we want them to call and ask,” Scullin said.