St. Joseph Post

WHITE CLOUD -Multiple fire stations in Doniphan County responded to a rural house fire Tuesday evening to find flames shooting from the roof.

“White Cloud station was the first fire unit on the scene and there was fire showing from several different places in the house,” said Joe Florence, Highland District 2 Station Chief.

Florence said the call went out around 6 p.m. Tuesday and fire crews from White Cloud, Highland, Troy, and Iowa Tribe responded to the home located at 2393 Hwy 7 located between Iowa Point and White Cloud.

Because of the rural location water supply was a major issue.

“We made an attack on it and tried to control the fire but with a limited water supply basically we ran out of water,” Florence said.

“White Cloud had a tanker, Highland brought another truck with water and a tanker but in rural areas obviously there’s no water supply unless you can bring it with you and if you can’t overcome the fire with the water you brought it can’t go out.”

No one was injured in the fire but the home is estimated to be a complete loss.

Fire crews ended up having to let the fire burn itself out and monitored the area to make sure it didn’t spread.

“The area surrounding the house had quite a few trees but we didn’t have any problem with grass or anything catching on fire or extending into the woods,” he said.

Florence said the cause of the fire is still under investigation but believes it may be tied to electrical issues.
“The owner said he had some electrical problems when he came home on Tuesday, before the fire and reset some breakers and went outside to do some work,” Florence said. “When he came back the house was on fire.”