Frequent and deadly blazes take toll on Mid-County fire department

Firefighters with the Mid-County Fire Protection District have worked hours of overtime this year fighting several serious fires throughout the county.

Just this month, firefighters responded to at least two deadly fires, one of which left a woman dead.

In January, there were a few more as well. A Camden County funeral home was considered a total loss after nine different agencies had to work hours in freezing cold temperatures to put out the blaze.

“We don’t think any of them are connected with one another,” said Mid-County Fire Marshal Joe Bryant. “It’s just a pure coincidence right now that they’ve all happened at the same time.”

While officials don’t suspect there’s anything suspicious about those fires, they are worried about the toll it takes on the department.

Fire Chief Scott Frandsen said the number of fires they’ve responded to isn’t the problem-12 structure fires since January is even a bit below average-but it’s the deadliness of the blazes and how long they take to extinguish them that are fatiguing the team.

Although if members of the team are tired, they aren’t showing it.

“When the bell goes, we’re ready,” said Fire Cpt. Bill Boller. “We hit the door and go out. That’s our jobs.”

Frandsen is worried not only for his team, but also for the equipment. Since most of these serious blazes were fought in freezing temperatures, some equipment isn’t holding up.

“We’re using water, we’re hauling water and you start freezing everything up,” he said. “[It’s] our trucks, the bunker gear that the firefighters was wearing, the radios, air packs, everything because there was such a quantity of water.”

Frandsen says the trend of large fires is unusual for the department and he hopes it ends soon.

“We hope that it’s a coincidence and that it returns back to a normal call load soon,” he said. “Obviously if it continues it causes a concern.”

In the meantime, the department is ramping up its fire prevention program, warning people even more frequently about the effects of unauthorized brush fires and educating people about proper heating techniques in the cold because these were some causes of the fires.

“You want to keep everything at least three or four feet away from your heating sources so that you don’t get your combustibles too close to where they can catch fire,” said Bryant.

He also warns that The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for the next few days.

“The wind’s supposed to be high, the humidity’s already low so we do urge people not to be burning outside or doing open burning.”

Bryant says some of the other causes will remain undetermined because of the amount of damage.

Frandsen also hopes to continue working with the surrounding fire departments as well, including ones in Sunrise Beach and Osage Beach.

“We’re extremely blessed,” he said. “There’s no way we could be successful without our neighbors.”

And the Mid-County firefighters say they’ll continue going to work, no matter what.

“I like to fight fires so I’m happy with it right now,” said Boller. “That’s my job, I like doing it.”

Right now, equipment problems are too much of a financial concern but officials say if money does get tight, they’ll look at other ways to bring costs under control.