Grassland Fires Rage in Springfield

By Rebekah Borio, Staff Writer


Fires eat away at Missouri grasslands
(Photo taken by Mark Wellberg, amature photographer)


Springfield, MO - The spell of hot, dry weather that has held the area in its grasp for the last few weeks is taking its toll on grasslands and firefighters.

Saturday, in the wake of 15- and 25-mph winds and a high temperature of 99 degrees, fire protection agencies from across the area responded to 16 calls.

At the largest of those calls, a 25-acre grass fire on Peabody Road north of Prathersville and west of Route 19, paramedics treated on site at least five of 35 firefighters for heat exhaustion, Springfield County Fire Chief Debra Schuster said.

Three more of the heavily clad firefighters were hospitalized for heat exhaustion, and two of them were flown to Springfield Hospital by helicopter. All were treated for about one hour and released.

Denis Sapp, fire captain of Station No. 1, said the blaze at Peabody Road, which burned out of control for an hour before it was contained, was probably started by a trash fire. The blaze endangered some nearby farmland and the barn on it but was extinguished before anything but grass was burned.

Fires like the one on Peabody Road had been starting all day, especially in the northern part of the city and country, said the chief. Some of the fires could have been the work of an arsonist, she added, but careless burning was a more likely cause.

“We don’t have any evidence there is an arsonist,” said the chief. “We sure hope we don’t have someone running around starting fires on purpose, but there is that possibility.”