Structure Fire Riverside Reptile Ranch in Stanton

I had just finished making an appointment to see one of my doctors at 9 am on Thursday morning, when the fire tones dropped for a structure fire at the Reptile Ranch in Stanton…my appointment was at 11 am so I reasoned that I had enough time to run down there and shoot it and return in time for the appointment. I texted Jim Bartle to let him know about it, figuring he was tied up with the preparations for the Meramac Fair this weekend and sure enough he was…he called as I was turning on to eastbound I-44 and I told him I could see heavy smoke in the sky ahead. He said he would get Mark Hilse headed that way too so I could shoot photos and Mark could shoot some video of it so they could get it on the wire soon as breaking news. Five minutes later I parked at the north end of their parking lot, out of the way, and hoofed it down the road to the front of the structure, a long shed back behind a wooden fence with a cabin attached….

…and well involved as you can see in the first image I shot above…only the paid crew and Chief Eric had arrived so far, one hoseline was off and being operated by one firefighter, spraying water on the Pony Express Cabin while the long shed in the background was fully involved as well….

…the single firefighter on the hoseline by the cabin was doing his best to get water on the north end of the shed to cool it down until more firefighters arrived, when a second line was then stretched…

…and Mike Kelly, Battalion Chief at St Clair FPD, arrived just ahead of his pumper and crew, to assist with operations…..the second hoseline was stretched by Firefighter Trevor Woods. I was still shooting from the highway pavement, but quickly stepped down into the grassy ditchline as St Clairs pumper approached from the interstate…..

…Mike assisted Trevor on the hoseline as he prepared to attack the fire from the south side of the fire…

…as Firefighter Ray Enloe was packing up preparing to join the attack. St Clair backed their pumper into the parking lot on the south side and firefighters scrambled to hook up a supply line so that St Clair could feed water to the Sullivan attack pumper as Trevor and Mike began their attack….

Ray came over and took over backing up Trevor on the hoseline a few minutes later…right before the height of the fire….apparently the gate was locked and a halligan tool was requested to open it and allow firefighters better access to the heavy flames, which were increasing strength and lattitude fast….

A couple of additional firefighters joined the fight from St Clair FPD as the fire continued to grow in intensity….

…while St Clairs pumper returned to the Stanton Fire Station for another load of water, and returned shortly just ahead of Bourbon Fire Department arriving with their tanker…

…as the fire grew closer to the main Reptile Ranch building, firefighters positioned the hoseline through a large shrub to gain a better threshold on the attack and to try and prevent the flames from spreading to the main building…

…the attempt to get thru the shrubbery didnt work well, so firefighters then maneuvered around it as best as they could, the access looked pretty tight through there…

…in the meantime, Firefighter Kory Snelson was kept busy helping with the supply lines and operating Pumper 854….

…and the attack on the north end was still a work in progress as well….firefighters even though short handed, were working hard to overcome the intensity and size of the inferno….

…by now the crews on the south end were fighting tremendous heavy flame and thick black clouds of smoke billowing up into the sky with the gasses inside the black smoke re-igniting occasionally high above the main body of fire below….

Crews on the north end made a good effort to hit the main body of fire from their side while the south side firefighters attacked from their side and soon the heavy fire was knocked down, saving the main building from catching fire…

…during that fight, the Pony Express Cabin re-ignited and firefighters once again attacked and knocked it down….

..and while their attention was turned back to the cabin, the fire on the south side intensified once again and the north side firefighters re-joined the fight on the south end again…

..knocking the heavy flames down once again and leaving the north end and middle of the shed burning…

With a few extra firefighters on scene now, Ray and Trevor took a much needed break from firefighting…

…while St Clair and the north side firefighters continued their fight against the flames….

…I walked back to the highway and up to the north side where I saw that firefighters had that end knocked down and under better control as well…