On September 21st, I was on my way home from work at the golf course, and as I rounded the bend on westbound I-44 approaching the straight stretch that runs along the old St Clair Airport, I spotted a car on fire, on the shoulder of eastbound 44. It looked like a gray colored Pontiac and heavy flames were rolling out of the passenger cabin of the car.

Despite heavy westbound traffic behind me, I pulled over to the shoulder and called 911…which rang three times and then routed me to the non-emergency number of Franklin County Sheriffs Office, a number I know well…never had that happen before…a radio operator answered the phone and I told her what was going on, described the car…no I didn`t see anyone around the car or inside the car, and she then told me St Clair Fire Department had been dispatched and disconnected the call…I imagine they were getting multiple calls on it and had limited call takers or dispatchers on duty to answer the incoming calls. No worries, help was rolling so I took a few photos…I had to shoot fast due to the heavy traffic passing me, insuring that I got a few good shots…I decided to stay inside my truck and shoot from there…

…two shots later, the car exploded and I was able to capture it because I was shooting non-stop….

…luckily no one was passing by when it exploded and St Clair wasn`t up on it with their firefighters, either…

A few minutes later, I heard St Clair Fire Department responding and soon they were pulling up, not sure if they saw the explosion as they approached or not…

Fires 2019-0921 EB 44 241.6 MM St Clair Car Fire With Explosion

…but they did seem to approach with caution, so it`s quite possible they did see it. At any rate, they put a quick knockdown on the fire after a second explosion occurred as they were walking up…between the next two photos you can tell, but they wisely moved off into the grass off the shoulder and made their initial attack from there…

…and just as they were making progress on their attack from the grassy area, the second firefighter on the hoseline, had trouble with his airpack and had to stop and make some changes before they could advance…

and by doing so, the nozzleman was able to knock down the heavy fire inside the cabin by focusing on spraying water through the burned out back windshield, maintaining a safe distance from the car…

Job Well Done, St Clair Fire District !!

I was taking it easy on Sunday, September 8th about noon, when the tones dropped for Sullivan Fire Department, toning them out for a commercial structure fire at Sullivan Precision Metal on Franklin Street. I drove north on Elmont Road and turned up Dunsford Drive to come in the back way, observing light brown smoke along the rear wall of the building as I drove up on the factory building. This factory sits underneath one of Sullivan`s water towers on the north side of town….

Sullivan Fire Department arrived soon after in Pumper 854….

Video 237 Comm Structure Fire Sullivan Precision Metal Finishing 2019-0908

I was still near the back of the building when Jim Bartle, Sullivan Independent News Editor, arrived and I told him what I knew about the fire so far…the smoke had a strong electrical odor, but no one at that time was sure what was burning inside the building as crews were just starting to enter the east side of the building near the loading bay, where additional crews were beginning to arrive as we watched…

…here you see Pumper 814 arriving, hooking to the hydrant across the street from the building and preparing to lay a supply line in to Pumper 854….Ray Enloe coordinated with incoming crews outside the building while his Captain and crew operated inside the building…

Video 235 Comm Structure Fire Sullivan Prec Metal Finishing 2019-0908

Bourbon Fire Department arrived soon after and were directed to the back of the building, under the water tower…

…and then Ladder 852 arrived…

…and then the interior crew came out for additional bottles of air….

St Clair Fire Department arrived next with their Ladder Truck and were directed by Ray to the rear of the building as well…

Video 253 Comm Structure Fire Sullivan Prec Metal Finishing 2019-0908

By this time, crews were under the impression that this may be some type of boiler fire near the back of the building…shortly after St Clair arrived, command was passed to Ray outside the building….Ray had Bourbon and St Clair position at the rear of the building to anchor that side in case fire breached the back wall…

Joe Thurmond arrived soon and went inside the building with firefighters to check on a transformer near the rear of the building as well…

…and then Joe came out of the building to update Ray on the fire inside…

Video 293 Comm Structure Fire Sullivan Prec Metal Finishing 2019-0908

..and more crews exited the building…here Jim Grimm and his crew exit the building to replace their air bottles….

…and then re-enter the building once again…

…soon after, additional crews arrived from Union and Beaufort-Leslie Fire Districts…

Video 312 Comm Structure Fire Sullivan Prec Metal Finishing 2019-0908

…soon after their arrival, interior crews located the source of the fire and knocked it down. Some serious ventilation work happened afterward as the entire building was filled with the obnoxious odor brown smoke, that required air masks worn and several positive pressure ventilation fans set up to air out the building, restoring visibility and safe conditions inside the building for workers as well as firefighters. 

As it was, turned out to be an electrical transfomer inside the building that caught fire, which explained the odor of the smoke. Job well done by all who responded !!

I remember this fire like it was yesterday…I was out in front of the fire response by a few miles but when it was dispatched, I didn`t catch the location clearly, thought they gave it as Sappington Bridge Road past Pipeline Road. I spotted smoke before I turned off Hwy D, but from that far away, could not tell if it was on Sappington Bridge Road or Pipeline Road and as I crossed the Meramac River, I lost the smoke completely. I drove on down Sappington Bridge Road til the road started down the big hill toward Greens Branch Creek, then turned around and turned right on Pipeline Road, arriving behind Chief Eric. I parked off the road as much as possible, the brush gets close to the road there, and walked up to the scene to photograph the Kia sedan, fully involved….

Pumper 854 arrived soon after and firefighters pulled hoselines and prepared for battle…

Car Fire 2019-0730 069AVI c2019 JW JOHNSON

…and then Davey Sumpter, on the nozzle, and Captain Dave Konys, began their attack…

Car Fire 2019-0730 077AVI c 2019 JW JOHNSON

…and then Chase Robertson walked up to assist with a haligan tool to open the car hood…

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…and soon they had the fire out…in the next video, I was talking with a couple of firefighters about how the truck strobe lights were reflecting on the fire coats and even Chief Eric`s vest in a wild and colorful way…strong strobes for sure to be working that way in broad and bright daylight…

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I drove down the North Service Road and parked out in front of the Pilot/Flying J Truckstop, to photograph the multi-vehicle mva under the East Overpass. There were at least three cars, one suv, one pickup, and one semi involved, looked like a few of them sustained damage from a chain reaction type action behind the main event. The semi was up against some of the columns under the overpass when I arrived…Sullivan Fire Department was on scene as well as MoBap EMS and Missouri Highway Patrol Troopers arrived soon after..several of them. Eastbound traffic was diverted up and over the East Overpass while first responders worked with injured patients and then firefighters assisted with scene cleanup. 

I heard the tones drop for a structure fire at 384 Landon Road near the old welding shop, so I grabbed my camera and headed that way. Sullivan Fire Department wasn`t far behind me so I pulled over in the parking lot of the welding shop and let them all go by, then hoofed it down to the scene on foot. Turned out to be a large shed on fire, flames visible from Landon Road and I shot the first photo from the gravel lane, an opening in the trees showing the flames….

My buddy, Medic Tim Leasor, with MoBap EMS, took this next photo of the firefighters preparing to attack the fire and bleeding the air out of the hoseline…

..that is Damon Sumpter, the Captain of that crew, on the nozzle…I probably could have got there in time to shoot it as well, but was busy shooting the next photo, a reflection on the side of Pumper 854 that made it appear to be on fire as well…

…and I then walked up and started to photograph the scene…that is Tim ahead of me in the blue outfit…

…and then Damon turned his attention to the house siding, which had melted down from the intense heat of the flames, so he cooled down the siding as well…

…then when the firefighters got the shed doors open, they hit the flames inside the shed and continued to cool things down…

…one of the losses inside the shed was a zero turn mower….

Good job guys !!

Around 5:30 pm on June 2nd, I heard Sullivan PD dispatching MOBAP EMS and SPD to a report of a motor vehicle accident on eastbound I-44 at or near the 226 mile marker, and advised personnel there were reports of multiple injuries and ejection. I let Jim Bartle know I was on the way to photograph the scene for the paper, as he was out of town on a work detail, and kept him advised throughout the incident so he could put a story together quickly and update motorists in the area as well. I parked just past Acid Mines Road and walked up back up the road to the guardrail above the scene, deciding to stay up on the shoulder of the Service Road, as traffic was heavy on the westbound side of 44 and responders were going to have their hands full from the looks of it. It appeared to be a single vehicle accident, car rolled over into the center median and injured patients laying on the inside shoulder of the wb lanes, as well as several in the grassy median on both sides of the car. Several motorists had stopped to lend aid to the patients and remained in place there, until the arrival of firefighters, medics, and police officers….

…..while other motorists stopped and assisted law enforcement officers with traffic control and direction, until additional resources were able to arrive and assist. Traffic initially on both east and westbound sides, was directed to pass by the accident scene on the outside shoulders. Chief Eric requested multiple ground ambulances and air units to respond to the scene and once the air units arrived, westbound traffic was diverted to the exit ramp of the East Overpass so that air units could land on the westbound lanes. Eastbound traffic was diverted up the exit ramp to the East Overpass as well and traffic split to the south to take the South Service Road east and to the north to the North Service Road going east. MOBAP EMS were on scene ahead of Sullivan Fire Department with one ambulance, and within minutes, three ambulances from North Crawford County Ambulance District arrived to assist, while Sullivan Firefighters continued to respond to the scene in great numbers and multiple trucks…

…within 17 minutes of the call, Missouri State Troopers were on scene beginning their investigation….

…a minute later, NCCAD`s first ambulance arrived to assist….

…and even more firefighters were on scene as well….

….19 minutes into the scene, NCCAD had their second ambulance on scene and one air unit landed on westbound lanes of 44….

Multiple agencies and personnel working together on scene in an effective and fluid manner to provide medical aid to the patients and provide safe and fast travel to medical facilities…

A total of seven ground ambulances responded to the scene from as far away as Gerald and St Clair and at least three air units landed on westbound 44 for transport of patients to area hospitals. For the hour I was there photographing the scene, I saw GREAT TEAMWORK by all first responders and a handful of concerned citizens and military personnel.