Cause of an early morning fire July 21 in a rental storage shed
at McFadden and North Cuba Street remains “undetermined,” according
to Owensville Fire Chief Jeff Arnold, citing a preliminary
Missouri State Fire Marshal’s report.
The unit where the fire began had no electric service and no
cigarette butts were located on a burned mattress.
“Nothing that was found there says that it was intentionally
set because he can’t say someone was in there at the time the fire
started,” said Arnold. A woman was the last known renter of the
unit, he said. Fire originated on a mattress
set atop a wooden shipping pallet
in the northwest corner of the
structure, said Arnold of the blaze
which was reported at 2:53 a.m.
this past Wednesday. Heavy smoke
was rolling out from underneath the
building’s roof-line when Arnold
arrived.
The initial call was quickly upgraded
to a second alarm and later
to a third alarm due to an extensive
overhaul of the building’s 20-plus
storage bays filled with fire and
smoke-damaged contents.
“Crews were able to get a handle
on the fire quickly but all the units
suffered significant smoke and heat
damage,” said Arnold in a social
media post last week.
“Unless they can figure out who
was inside the unit, he’s going to
leave it as ‘undetermined,” said
Arnold of the fire marshal’s investigation
as of Monday.
Firemen assisting with extinguishing
the blaze included members
from the Gerald-Rosebud,
Beaufort-Leslie, Belle, Bland,
Linn, Vienna, and Hermann communities.
Owensville police and
ambulance, along with Gasconade
County E-911 personnel and
the county sheriff’s patrol, also
responded to assist.
The city’s public works department
assisted by using a small
excavator to remove burning debris
from several of the damaged units.