West Plains, Mo. – Dan Williams of Ozark Radio News speaks with Community Services Director for the City of West Plains Todd Shanks and Police Chief Stephen Monticelli about the fire that broke out at Powell – Crews Title and Escrow in the early morning hours of February 1, 2022.
Dan Williams:
This is Dan from Ozark Radio News, and I’m at the scene of the fire that happened early this morning in West Plains. Clearly, the building back here has taken some damage. This is Powell Crews Title and Escrow. And I’m actually here talking with some people who were involved in the operation that’s been happening here this morning. This is Todd Shanks, he works for the City. He’s actually got a pretty nice title. You want to go ahead and-
Todd Shanks:
Community Services Director.
Dan:
Indeed he is. And he does a lot of work around here in West Plains and he knows what’s going on around here. And then I’ve also got Mr. Steve Monticelli, who is the Chief of Police here for West Plains. Now, what time did this guy start?
Todd:
We estimated it started approximately around 3:00 AM.
Dan:
3:00 AM. And you guys, there have been crews out here for quite some time then, I would say. Now, I know there’s still some active hotspots over there as well though. How long do you guys expect this street to be locked down?
Chief Monticelli:
The streets will probably be closed, East Main will be closed probably the majority of the day. We do have Court Square open now in one lane. So we’ve opened up the businesses at 9:00, so businesses are able to operate. They may just need to park a little distance away.
Dan:
Okay, fantastic. So, you guys have got it pretty well handled it seems like now. It looks like even just us looking here now, quite a few different emergency responders came to actually help you guys out here. How many crews came to help?
Todd:
We actually had 17 agencies that responded. We had two also on standby. Also, I want to point out too, we had some area businesses that have donated food and drinks for our crews, so greatly appreciated that we had response from all over the area.
Dan:
Okay. Now, how much damage do you think has the building itself and the surrounding buildings taken?
Monticelli:
It is mainly involved in the one building. The Fire Department done an excellent job to save the building next to it. So, they’re still evaluating that. There’s extensive damage to the building.
Dan:
Now, were there any injuries involved in this situation?
Monticelli:
There were no physical injuries in the structure. There was one firefighter that was transported to an area hospital with a minor injury.
Todd:
Right. Yeah, no casualties.
Dan:
No casualties, and injuries pretty minor then.
Todd:
Pretty minor injury, yes.
Dan:
Yeah. It sounds like you guys really efficiently worked this out. Now, do you guys expect there to be any kind of resolution to the investigation as to how this started or anything like that anytime soon, or what are you expecting going forward?
Monticelli:
Well, the State Fire Marshall’s Office is in route, and they’ll be responsible for the investigation. They really can’t do much of anything until they are completely got the fire extinguished. So, it could be weeks, days, months. That would be a question for them.
Dan:
Okay. Well, thank you very much for talking with me, and I’m sure everyone else at home appreciates this too, being able to hear about what happened here. Obviously, bottom line here, no real casualties, one light injury, some damage to a building here, but we’re really not sure as to what the cause is. But, things are pretty well under control here in downtown West Plains. For Ozark Radio News, this is Dan signing off.
