Springfield--The hot, dry weather that has held the area in its grasp for the last few weeks has been taking its toll on grasslands and firefighters of the Springfield area.
Saturday, in the wake of 15-to-25-mph winds and a high temperature of 99 degrees, fire protection agencies from across the area responded to 16 calls.
At the largest of those, a 25-acre grass fire of Peabody Road north of Prathersville and west of Route 19, paramedics treated on site at least five of 35 fire fighters for heat exhaustion, Springfield County Fire Chief Debra Schuster said.
Out of the five heavily-clad firefighters, three were hospitalized, two of which were flown to Springfield Hospital by helicopter. All were treated for about one hour and released.
The blaze at Peabody Road, which burned out of control for an hour before it was contained, probably was started by a trash fire. The blaze endangered some nearby farmland and the barn on it but was extinguished before anything but grass was burned, Dennis Sapp, fire captain of Station No. 1, said.
Schuster said fires like the one on Peabody Road had been starting all day, especially in the northern part of the city and county. Schuster said some of the fires could have been the work of an arsonist, but careless burning was a more likely cause.
“We don’t have any evidence there is an arsonist,” Schuster said. “We sure hope we don’t have someone running around starting fires on purpose, but there is that possibility.”
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