2012 Record Year for Fires

It’s a record breaking year for fires in Columbia and Boone County. According to the Columbia Fire Department, 550 fires happened in 2012 compared to the 365 in 2011. According to the Boone County Fire Department, there have been 311 in 2012 compared to 155 in 2011.”There were a large number of brush fires this year. We had historic dry conditions and that led to more deck fires which translated in some cases to house fires,” Columbia Fire Batallion Chief Brad Fraizer said.Columbia Fire Department statistics show house and building fires jumped from 73 in 2011 to 119 in 2012.”We also had an incredibly large number of high dollar loss fires. The three biggest were Brookside, the auto shop on Business Loop, and The Sound Performance fire,” Fraizer said.Those big fires cost almost $20 million in 2012 compared to $4 million in damages in 2011.Despite fire numbers drastically increasing, Fraizer says he doesn’t expect any changes to the city’s fire codes.