A home that was formerly a church was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Sunday morning at Blue Moon Corner on Highway 17 west of Houston.
Houston Rural Fire Department Chief Don Gaston said three trucks and eight firefighters responded to the call shortly after midnight.
“It had too much of a head start on us,” Gaston said.
Gaston said the blaze started at the south end of the building, but the cause isn’t known. He said responders had a few anxious moments after an oxygen tank was observed inside the burning structure.
“We were about to get a little bit ahead of the fire,” Gaston said, “A family member called and said one of them was on oxygen and had a big tank in there. We got the guys out and it wasn’t long before that thing blew up.
“It made pretty good fireballs around there for a bit.”
The tank, Gaston said, is a good example of the potential perils firefighters regularly face these days.
“It’s a good example of how dangerous firefighting has become,” he said. “Between drugs, oxygen and propane bottles, it can get to be a scary situation for us.”
Missouri State Highway Patrol personnel helped with traffic at the scene.
“At two or three o’clock in the morning, you wouldn’t think there would be a lot of traffic out there,” Gaston said. “But people just parked out there and it got to be a mess.”
Nobody was home at the time of the fire. The former Bethel Chapel Church had been converted to rental house by its owner, Ronnie Gaston.
“It was a big building,” Gaston said. “This just goes to show that it’s well worth paying your fire dues.”