Fully contained wildfire burns over 500 acres in Callaway County; multiple fires ignite in Boone County
HOLTS SUMMIT, Mo. (KMIZ)
Officials say a wildfire in Callaway County is now fully contained after it burned over 500 acres.
"The fire started from a control burn, the property owner was doing a controlled burn to clear off brush and things like that from their property," said Christopher Phau assistant chief of the South Callaway Fire Protection District.
Phau says strong winds caused the owner to lose control of the fire.
"The wind can create extreme fire conditions where it provides a lot of oxygen to the fire and causes the fire to grow rapidly. That's what happened to the property owner that was doing controlled burn," said Phau.
The Holt Summit Fire Department and seven other agencies responded to the fire on the 8700 block of County Road 44 for the fire.
Officials say no one was hurt or structures damaged by the fire.
Callaway County Sheriff Clay Chism says the department helped the fire crews by providing assistance with drones to look at the fire line and scope of the incident.
In Boone County, Gale Blomenkamp, assistant fire chief with the Boone County Fire Protection District, says seven brush fires were reported Thursday. Officials report people were burning things such as pasture and brush piles which caused the fires.
Some of the fires happened on East Bowling Lane and State Farm Parkway.
The South Callaway Fire Department is warning Missourians that during this time of the year they get quite a few people burning trash and leaves which could cause uncontrollable fires if the winds are strong enough.
It's best to prevent burning things outdoors if the forecast calls for strong winds.
