One PCSD employee, two volunteer firefighters go to hospital after blast
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By BETH ZUMWALT
Beth Zumwalt/Pike Press
A small house at 528 W. Oklahoma was destroyed by an explosion, last Tuesday night. The explosion is suspected to be gas originated, but no official word has been received from the Office of the State Fire Marshall, who is investigating the incident, along with other agencies.
A fire call to 528 Oklahoma Street in Pittsfield for a grass fire turned much more serious Tuesday, April 11.
The call came in just after 8:30 p.m. when a neighbor said a grass fire was in the yard and was getting close to the neighboring residence. No one was home at the time. The house belonged to James Allen Carroll.
The Pittsfield Fire Department arrived and realized the fire was inside the residence.
“I can’t really say if the fire started in the home and spread to the outside or was outside and got into the house,” Jason White, fire chief, said. “That is for the Office of the State Fire Marshall to determine.”
White said two firefighters were inside the house and two were just outside the front door assisting, when an explosion occurred.
“We had seven firefighters and one Pike County Sheriff’s Department employee knocked down by the blast,” White said. “We had two firefighters and one PCSD employee go to the emergency room . Several others were evaluated at the scene by Pike County EMS.”
White said firefighters did not suspect there was a gas leak until the explosion.
“On arrival the yard had burnt, the siding on the corner of the structure was melting from what appeared to be extension from the grass fire,” White said. “As we were extinguishing the corner of the building fire began to erupt from the door frame area and that was when we knew the house was on fire. We shifted gears and went into structure fire mode, stretched an interior attack line, two firefighters made entry and began interior firefighting tactics and an explosion occurred shortly thereafter.”
White said the explosion charred off the meter assembly, but did leave the shut off valve intact.
“Pittsfield Public Works employees shut the gas down and secured it so there was no leaks,” White said. “We were fortunate that the blast extinguished the fire and therefore only a gas leak was occurring afterward.”
White said his department was on the scene until 2 a.m. when the fire marshall’s office arrived to investigate. The origin of the fire is still undetermined.
White said it was a real community effort and because of that injuries were kept few and minor.
“We would really like to thank everyone for the constant calls and texts checking on our guys,” White said. “We appreciate our community and the agencies and people who showed up to help us. We want to extend a big thanks to Mayor Mendenhall, Sheriff Greenwood and his staff, Pittsfield City Police, Pike EMS staff, Pike County Dispatch, Griggsville Fire for checking on us and offering additional resources, Illini Hospital, and Ameren CIPS. We are very fortunate that everyone is ok and returned home to their families.”
