No one hurt in Scott City house fire

Christina MacKinnon was eating dinner Wednesday evening with her daughter in Cape Girardeau when a neighbor called to tell her the house where she'd lived for seven years was on fire.

"The neighbors called and said there was flames coming out of the living-room window," MacKinnon said Wednesday night as she watched Scott City and Cape Girardeau firefighters battle the blaze.

"When I got here, it was engulfed in flames," she said of the house at 308 W. Missouri Blvd.

No one was home at the time, and MacKinnon said her two dogs got out safely.

"That's what I was worried about," she said.

Members of the Scott City and Cape Girardeau Fire Departments battle a blaze at 308 W. Missouri Blvd. in Scott City, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013. Nobody was injured in the fire. (Laura Simon)

The frightened animals ran away, and neighbors took them in, MacKinnon said.

Smoke poured from the house as firefighters worked inside, the lights on their helmets casting a bluish glow through the haze. Yellow-orange flames filled the back half of the house. As firefighters moved to the back and worked to knock down the fire, the flames moved into the front of the house, which appeared to be a total loss.

"I'm sure everything's gone," MacKinnon said.

She said she shared the home with her husband and two daughters, ages 15 and 18.

Two men also had been staying with them, she said.

Members of the Scott City and Cape Girardeau Fire Departments battle a blaze at 308 W. Missouri Blvd. in Scott City, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013. Nobody was injured in the fire. (Laura Simon)

Little information was available at the scene, but MacKinnon said firefighters told her they wouldn't be able to determine the cause of the fire until it was extinguished.

"It's an older house, but I don't know what could have even triggered it," she said.

Two Scott City firetrucks and a Cape Girardeau firetruck lined the block, and water from the fire hoses pooled on the street, which police blocked off in both directions.

As firefighters worked on the house itself, utility workers used a bucket lift to reach the top of a pole behind the house so they could disconnect the electricity.

MacKinnon said the home was insured.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

308 W. Missouri Blvd., Scott City, Mo.