The early morning hours of April 2nd around 1 am, I heard Cencom dispatch Cuba, Bourbon and Steelville Fire Districts to a First Alarm Commercial Structure Fire at the Resale Shop on Old Hwy 66 in Cuba, the official address 501 East Washington Street. As I passed through Bourbon, I noticed lights on inside the Fire Station just north of 44 and figured Bourbon Fire would soon be on the way.
I kept looking for a glow in the sky as I approached the Hwy UU overpass, but never saw one til I arrived…parking two blocks west of Missouri Hick Restaurant on Old 66, and walked down to see a few Cuba firefighters near the back of the building, trying to make entry through a side door with heavy fire through the roof on the east side, right above their heads….
295 AVI East Side of Building Heavy Fire Thru Roof
…after a few minutes on the east side of the building, I walked over to the west side of the building, to see if the fire on the roof was traveling in that direction, and I discovered heavy fire over there as well…
288 AVI Resale Shop Cuba 1st Alarm Com Structure Fire West Side
I walked back over to the east side of the building as another of Cuba Fire`s trucks arrived on scene…
303 AVI Resale Shop Cuba Structure Fire Water Issues
…and from the level of activity, it appeared they might have been experiencing some water problems…I also didn`t know it at the time, but found out later, that Chief Mike Plank had upgraded from a first alarm to a 3rd alarm, calling in several area fire departments…Bourbon Fire arrived soon after and Sullivan I learned, was on the way with Ladder 852…Cuba Fire had not received their new ladder truck as yet and the older one had been sold. The heavy fire continued to spread across the roof….
In the meantime, Cuba firefighters did what they could while help was on the way…
Sullivan Fire District arrived with Ladder 852 as the heavy fire rolled across and consumed the west side of the roof, and the ladder was placed into operation quickly…
306 AVI Sullivan Ladder Truck 852 Arriving
The ladder is raised and firefighters were making sure they had enough lines added to the truck for an adequate water supply….
329 AVI Sullivan Ladder Truck Flowing Water Now On To Roof
And then once the lines were hooked up, Sullivan began flowing water on to the roof fire with the ladder pipe…Firefighter John Wayne Strothcamp was at the top of the ladder, while Firefighter/Engineer Drew Richards was operating the pump at the back of the Ladder Truck…I had talked to Captain Ray Enloe a few minutes before and he was hanging near the front of the truck. Just before they started flowing water, I heard a few explosions, it sounded like, from withiin the building…
334 AVI Sullivan Ladder 852 Flowing Water on Heavy Fire
377 AVI Very Heavy Fire Rolling Thru Roof
The fire continued to grow bigger and intensify as well….a few minutes later, the fire moved to the front of the building and the front porch facade came crashing down…you will hear a yell for help…turned out it was from Ray Enloe, who was operating a handline near the pump…he dived under the Ladder Truck as the intense heat from the porch and embers swept across the space between the truck and the building quickly…can`t see it from my vantage point, but firefighters near Cuba`s attack pumper quickly rushed to Ray`s aid…you see Chief Mike Plank walk over to make sure everyone is okay, then return and confer with medics who walked over to check on everyone as well…
382 AVI Front Porch Facade Collapsed Some Tense Moments No One Hurt
…and soon after the front porch facade came down, the southwest corner piece came down as well…
387 AVI Knocking Down Heavy Fire at Front Wall Roofline with 852
…and within about 20 minutes, firefighters had much better control of the fire, with an extensive mop up operation soon to begin….the fire was nearly under control before the third alarm units began arriving, just in time for the real work to begin…
389 AVI Last Video With Explanation on Ray Enloe When Porch Collapsed
I left the scene and headed home soon after…not sure how long firefighters remained on scene, but they had their work cut out for them.