The Fulton Fire Department responded to a residential fire about 10:30 p.m. Monday at 206 Addison St., where a spark from a charcoal grill set the house and neighboring shed ablaze.
No one was seriously injured in the fire, which firefighters determined to be accidental in nature. One tenant escaped with a minor burn on his hand, which was treated on scene, while a firefighter was also treated on site for heat exposure. The fire department estimated damage to the home at about $60,000.
Hams Prairie resident Connie Coleman owns the home, which she said she had been renting out to its current occupants. She said she was notified of the fire by a call from neighbors, who said that the renters had taken precautions to douse the grill with water after use, but an ember had still managed to ignite building materials kept under the wood back porch.
"The neighbors called and said the back of the house was on fire so we started to come up at 12:30," said Coleman. "My husband said, "look, there's nothing we can do.' We came up here today expecting just to see the porch burnt."
They instead found the house far more damaged. Fulton Fire Department chief Dean Buffington said the fire spread from the porch and building supplies to much of the rest of the house, as well as the nearby detached garage. Buffington said the extreme heat and dryness Missouri has faced this summer likely aided the fire's spread.
"I'm sure that the deck wood and the wood stored underneath it were dry, and it could have been a contributing factor," he said. "I think it could have happened anyway, but this way I'm sure it happened faster."