There were no injuries in the Friday morning fire that destroyed a house in rural Boone County, according to the Perry Volunteer Fire Department.
The fire was first reported to the Boone County Sheriff’s office and passed on to the Perry Police Department about 12:30 a.m., according to Perry Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Hinds. The caller who reported the emergency told the Boone authorities “that the house was fully engulfed in fire and was completely gone.”
By the time the Perry Volunteer Fire Department arrived, “the structure had already collapsed into the basement,” Hinds said. He said the Perry crew attacked the fire from the north side with a single hand line.
“We continued to fight the fire,” Hinds said, “until we were able to speak to the home owner, who lives alone, and determined that neither he nor anyone else was inside the residence at the time of the fire.”
The was little for the firefighters to do but let the blaze burn itself out in isolation on Boone County Road P54 just north of 305th Street.
“Based upon the advanced stage of the fire,” Hinds said, “and the fact there was at least six inches of snow cover on the ground, with a slight breeze out of the northeast and heavy snow falling at the time, and no other homes or buildings within a half-mile in any direction, we decided we would leave the scene and return to the station, allowing the fire to continue to burn.”
The 99-year-old, two-story house is owned by Polyzylon Perry LLC of Southlake, Texas. It was formerly owned by Ronald Dean Mulder of Perry until September 2012.
