Kitchen fire damages Perry County home

One Perry County man was fortunate Saturday morning for remembering to close the door to his home when exiting during a kitchen fire.

Bill Jones, assistant chief of the Perryville Fire Department and Perry County Rural Fire Protection District, said a man awoke in his home about 3 a.m. to a layer of smoke along the ceiling. The fire was coming from the kitchen, and that portion of the house was engulfed in flames. There were no working smoke detectors inside the home.

"It originated as a kitchen fire," Jones said. "It burnt all the cabinet doors off, the wall coverings down to the Sheetrock, and the fire was so extensive in the kitchen that the fire essentially used all the oxygen in the house, limiting itself to the kitchen."

Other area fire departments responded to the fire. Jones said the fire was in Longtown, Missouri, off County Road 510. The home was on a dead-end lane road, and Jones said getting there was slow because of icy roads.

The kitchen was fully involved when deputies arrived, but Jones said fire personnel were able to extinguish the fire "in short order."

They were a couple hours at the scene, spending the majority of the time checking the home for further fire damage. The home is a single story, ranch style home, and Jones said while the kitchen was the only part of the home that received fire damage, smoke damage affected the entire home.

No people or pets were injured, Jones said.

smaue@semissourian.com

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