Butler County man killed in fire on his farm

FAIRDEALING, Mo. -- An elderly man died Monday afternoon from injuries he suffered when the shop building on his rural Butler County farm caught fire.

Butler County Coroner Jim Akers said Glenn Hopwood's death was accidental due to "massive trauma from the fire. I can't determine if the flames or smoke killed him."

Hopwood was the fixed base operator of the Poplar Bluff Municipal Airport from the early 1970s to the early 1980s.

No autopsy is planned on the 84-year-old, Akers said. "It is obvious what happened here; there were not indications of foul play."

The fire was reported at 3:54 p.m. at a residence on a private lane in the Slayton Ford area, said Butler County fire chief Bob Fredwell. The property, he said, was a few hundred yards inside Butler County and only was accessible by way of Route M in Ripley County.

Fredwell said firefighters with the Logan Creek Volunteer Fire Department in Ripley County responded, as did members of the Doniphan Fire Department.

"The house was on the ground when they got there," as was an adjacent shop building, Fredwell said. "Basically, the fire department just cooled down the structure; there wasn't really anything for them to do. It was pretty well on the ground."

Firefighters reportedly found Hopwood between his home and the shop building.

There were about 30 minutes between the time the fire started and it was called in, said Rod Hoelscher, an investigator with the State Fire Marshal's Office. "It could have been longer than that. When the first firefighters got there; [the scene] was essentially how I saw it. There was nothing left."

Hoelscher said, he has found no indications the fire was set; however, its cause remains

undetermined.

"I think I know what happened; I'm checking out some things, trying to get all the pieces of the puzzle together," Hoelscher said.

Hoelscher described the residence as a singlewide trailer, with a wood frame addition and a separate work shop was nearby.

"All three went down," Hoelscher said. "We think the fire started in the workshop [and] the victim was in the workshop when the fire occurred."

Hopwood's wife, Akers said, reported hearing an explosion in the shop building and her husband hollering for help.

Akers said Hopwood's wife tried to help him, but could not and went for help. The woman, he said, drove a couple of miles to a neighbor's house, but was unable to find anyone home.

At one point, Akers said, her car got stuck in the mud and she had to walk a mile or more for help.

"We're lucky she did not succumb to the stress" of the situation, Akers said. "She did everything within her power to help her husband. She took extraordinary steps; when you think about her age, it really was [extraordinary]."