Fire burns house in southwest Columbia
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A fire ripped through a Columbia home Thursday afternoon.
Seven firetrucks were at the scene on Connery Court near Southampton Drive. Smoke was coming through the roof of the house.
Emergency radio traffic indicated flames were showing from the garage when firefighters arrived and had spread to the attic.
Two people -- a woman and child -- were inside when the fire began, a friend of the family said. The homeowner, a man, was not home, the friend said at the scene. The woman and child made it out safe.
The Columbia Fire Department was called to the home on Connery Court at 2:10 p.m. CFD Capt. Dan Berlemann said crews arrived six minutes later.
“They had heavy fire through the roof and in the attic fully involved,” Buerlemann said. “(We) got water on the fire and we ended up having seven companies in total respond. “
Seven fire trucks, four fire chiefs and a safety captain responded to the scene, with 30 personnel working together to extinguish the blaze.
“We went into normal fire operations and were able to get it under control pretty quickly,” Burelemann said.
Dipak Patel told ABC 17 News that the two people inside the home at the time of the fire were his wife and child. Both managed to make it out of the house safely with the help of smoke detectors.
“It is very important to have them in every home, every space where you will have one on the inside and within three feet of the outside of your bedroom doors in common areas. they do save lives and they were able to get the residents inside out of the house before anything happened,” CFD spokeswoman Skyler Clark said.
As the house was on fire, a friend of Patel’s said he took the younger child to his home so she wouldn’t have to watch their belongings go up in flames. Shortly after the fire was put out, the Patels were seen trying to salvage what they could from the fire. The family is seeking currently seeking donations.
Structure fires remain the leading cause of fire-related deaths in the Show-me state. The U.S. Fire Administration reports 46 people died in home fires last year.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, of the nearly 2,000 people who are killed in residential fires each year, about two-thirds did not have working smoke alarms in their homes.
