Wind fuels 40-acre fire that shuts down Highway 63
STURGEON, Mo. (KMIZ)
A grass fire and the efforts to contain it shut down part of northbound Highway 63 in Boone County on Monday.
Emergency dispatchers said in a public alert just before 2 p.m. that the road was closed at Canole Road, southwest of Sturgeon, because of a grass fire. Firefighters were first called to the area hours before the road was closed.
Gale Blomenkamp with the Boone County Fire Protection District said the call came in a little after noon. The call came in as a grass fire but Blomenkamp said the flame broke through a tree line and toward Highway 63.
About 40 acres burned, Blomenkamp said. The fire got into the median of Highway 63, he said. Sustained south winds of 20 to 30 mph fed the fire's quick spread, he said.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation by mid-afternoon.
The road was initially closed but one lane was opened a little after 2 p.m.
Other details were not immediately available. Check back for updates to this developing story.
