FIREFIGHTER DIES IN FIRE AT HIS HOME

FROHNA -- A 27-year-old Frohna alderman and volunteer firefighter died early Saturday as a result of a fire at his home.

Scott J. Vogel was pronounced dead at 3:28 a.m. Saturday at Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville, little more than an hour after firefighters rescued him from his burning, two-story frame home.

Perry County Coroner Patrick Naeger said an autopsy showed that Vogel died of smoke inhalation.

Naeger said this was the first fire fatality in Perry County this year.

For Don Boettcher, fire chief of Frohna's volunteer department, Vogel's death was particularly hard to take.

Vogel was a volunteer firefighter with the department. "We were good friends. He was easy going. He was full of life. He liked to have fun," a subdued Boettcher said Saturday.

He said his fellow firefighters felt "a lot of sorrow" over Vogel's death. "We're all going to miss him."

Boettcher said the Frohna Fire Department was called out at 2:13 a.m. after a neighbor of Vogel's called authorities to report the fire.

The fire chief said other departments also assisted. In all, about 25 firefighters from Frohna, Altenburg, East Perry and Perry County fire departments battled the blaze, Boettcher said.

The Frohna Fire Department sent three pumper trucks and the Perry County Fire Department, based in Perryville, sent two fire trucks to the scene, Boettcher said.

Firefighters found Vogel in the living room of the home.

"He was taken out of the burning building by the fire department and the fire department started resuscitative efforts at the scene," said Naeger.

Boettcher said the exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined. But, he added, it appears the fire started in the kitchen.

When firefighters arrived, flames were coming out of the kitchen, he said.

Two investigators with the State Fire Marshal's Office inspected the scene of the fire Saturday. Boettcher said the investigators will make a determination as to the cause of the fire.

Naeger said he and one of the investigators with the State Fire Marshal's Office inspected the scene of the fire around 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

"Actually, I was surprised because the structure was pretty well intact," the coroner said.

Most of the fire damage was confined to two or three rooms. "There was a lot of smoke damage in the house."

Boettcher said that the fire was basically confined to the kitchen, a stairway and the upstairs.

Vogel was a student at Southeast Missouri State University.

He previously worked at West End, a grocery store and tavern at Frohna, which was destroyed by fire earlier this month.

But Boettcher said there was no apparent connection between the two fires.

Boettcher said the Ozark Firefighters Association, to which the Frohna department belongs, plans to hold a memorial service.

"There's kind of an unwritten bond between firemen. You care about each other," he said.