Despite firefighters quick efforts, Mammoth-area house burns in fire
photo courtesy of JB Duke The Ozark County Sheriff’s dispatch log shows that the call reporting a house fire on Latham Lane off T Highway in the Mammoth/Howard’s Ridge area was made at 9:26 a.m. Wednesday, March 26. Lick Creek Fire Chief Jerry Rowlett said that, despite quick response time, the fire was coming out of the roof in one area by the time firefighters arrived on scene. The home was a complete loss.
photo submitted Firefighters from Lick Creek, Tecumseh, Gainesville, Pontiac, Clarkridge (Ark.), Oakland/Promised Land (Ark.), Caney Mountain and Caulfield responded to a house fire on T Highway. Despite the widespread effort, the house was too far engulfed when firefighters arrived and was a complete loss. In addition to tanker trucks, the firefighters used water from a pool to help extinguish the blaze, shown at the bottom of this photo.
Fire marshal investigators were unable to determine the cause of a March 26 fire at a home on Latham Lane off T Highway in the Mammoth/Howard’s Ridge area due to the extent of the damage, according to Mike O’Connell with the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
“The structure was mostly collapsed and consumed by the fire. Because of the extent of fire damage, no factual determination could be made as to the cause of the blaze. The fire was classified as undetermined,” he said in an email to the Times this week.
The home, owned by Joey and Gretchen Estes and rented to Kim Nielsen at the time of the blaze, was a complete loss.
Lick Creek Fire Chief Jerry Rowlett said that the fire was first reported by a neighbor who thought there might be a brush fire on the property. A dispatcher reached out to Estes, who said he wasn’t burning and went to the home to investigate the cause of the smoke. That’s when he found the house on fire.
Almost all of the fire departments had someone stationed at their respective fire houses, Rowlett said, because there was a scheduled update on the fire department’s radios. So, the response time was quick.
In all there were 17 or 18 firefighters from eight departments who responded, Rowlett said. Despite the quick response and ample help, the home was destroyed.
“When we got there, it was fully engulfed in the room we’re pretty sure it started in. It was coming out of the roof at that point,” Rowlett said. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to a barn that sat within 15 feet of the burning structure.
Nielsen and her two sons were not home at the time, but sadly the family lost a French Bulldog puppy and one of her son’s pets, a bearded dragon, in the fire.