Crews with the Houston Rural Fire Department responded Monday night to a vehicle fire in the Twin Bridges area on U.S. 63.
Houston Rural Fire Chief Don Gaston said a white Dodge Ram pickup being driven southbound by Licking resident Charles Burch caught fire at about 6:30 p.m., likely in the area of its gas tank. Gaston said two trucks and seven firefighters went to the scene, but the truck sustained severe damage.
A witness said flames from the blaze were shooting six feet high. Personnel from the Missouri State Highway Patrol also tended to the incident.
Houston Rural crews were also busy just before midnight last Friday night, responding to a call for mutual aid on a house fire at 14799 Shafer Road, near the Missouri Department of Conservation’s George O. White Nursery.
Gaston said two trucks and six firefighters from his department left the downtown Houston fire station at about 11:56 p.m., but were too late to provide valuable assistance, and the home was destroyed.