By BETH ZUMWALT
A call to the Pike County Sheriff’s Department early Thursday, July 18, reported a house fully engulfed on 150th Avenue,north of Pleasant Hill. It is not known who reported the fire, except it was a passer-by.
The Pleasant Hill Fire Department, along with Spring Creek, North Calhoun and Pittsfield were dispatched.
“It was pretty much gone when we got there,” Cory Winchell, chief of the Pleasant Hill Fire Department, said. “We didn’t know if anybody was in there or not until some of her family showed up and told us she was.”
The victim, identified as Sonda Heimer, 77, was discovered shortly after the fire was under control.
Winchell said the fire had been burning for some time before they got there.
“It was burning itself out, it had been burning for quite a while,” Winnchell said. “We had to call North Calhoun and Pittsfield for water.”
Winchell said he believed this was the first fire with a fatality for the Pleasant Hill Fire Department.
“The body of Ms. Heimer was transported to Bloomington for an autopsy,” Pike County Sheriff and Coroner, said. “The incident is still being investigated by the Pike County Sheriff/Coroner with the investigation into the cause of the fire by the Illinois State Fire Marshall’s Office.”
Funeral services for Heimer were held Tuesday at Lummis Funeral Home in Pleasant Hill
Also assisting at the scene was Pike County EMS.
