A fire on a wooded section of property near the Twin Bridges area north of Houston resulted in three men being injured Saturday afternoon.
Houston Rural Fire Association Chief Don Gaston said that two department trucks and several men responded at about 2 p.m. to a report of a blaze at a tract on Antioch Road owned by David Collins.
“We have no idea how the fire started,” Gaston said, “but it was back in God’s country in the woods.”
Gaston said Collins had been attempting to fight the fire himself, but was overcome by the smoke and heat. A pair of firefighters then tried to carry Collins out of harm’s way, and one of them went down.
“They got caught down in a ravine, and smoke overtook them,” Gaston said. “The wind changed and the ravine just filled up with smoke.”
A Texas County Sheriff’s Department deputy who had also responded to the scene was next to be overcome by smoke, and all three injured men were taken to Texas County Memorial Hospital for treatment.
“We had three guys that went to the hospital,” Gaston said. “It was a pretty eventful afternoon. It was the kind of thing you don’t want to have happen, but it could have easily been worse.”
Gaston said the fire also burned on a piece of property owned by a resident of St. Louis. Due to the rugged nature of the location, fighting the fire was done manually.
“We had two trucks down there and didn’t use a gallon of water off of them, because we couldn’t get them anywhere near the fire,” Gaston said. “It was about being able to get to it, and then control it after you got there. You just throw a line around it, backfire it and let it burn itself out.
“And it all had to be done by hand.”
Personnel from the Licking Fire Department and Missouri Department of Conservation also responded to the scene, and the combined effort led to the blaze being extinguished before a nearby home sustained any damage.
“I worry more about my guys when they’re in a structure,” Gaston said, “but there’s still danger in a grass fire or a fire in the woods, and you just never know. I just believe that everybody should be thankful for what firemen do.”
They got caught down in a ravine, and smoke overtook them. The wind changed and the ravine just filled up with smoke.”