ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Ill. – A fire guts a home in St. Clair County Monday morning, not far from O’Fallon, Illinois.
Crews got the call for the fire at a home on Simmons Lane near Bethel Road just after 7:00 a.m. When they arrived, the home was fully engulfed in flames.
Assistant Chief for the Hollywood Heights Fire Protection District, Cody Davis, told us he was the first on the scene. He shared that the fire was so intense that he immediately called for mutual aid, getting crews from the O’Fallon Fire Protection District and the Collinsville Fire Department.
Crews were able to put out the fire, but the home was gutted by the flames. Davis and loved ones of the people who lived there told us there were three people and three dogs living at the home. We’re told two of the people are out of state, but the third, a 30-year-old man, was home when the fire started. He got out okay, but then authorities explained he cut his arm on glass trying to rescue three dogs from inside the home.
Davis said one of the dogs was accounted for, but as of this writing, the other two are still missing. Davis also said he thinks the fire started in the living room, but the state fire marshal has been called in to help determine a cause.
Davis shared that there have been some issues at the home in the past, and that is in part why the fire marshal has been called in to investigate a cause.