Three fires Saturday on North Creasy Springs Road, Friendship Church Road and North Black Walnut Court destroyed a shop and damaged a privacy fence and a shed. No injuries were reported.
North Creasy Springs Road
The first fire on North Creasy Springs Road erupted at about 3:30 a.m. due to undetermined causes, said Gale Blomenkamp, assistant chief of the Boone County Fire Protection District. By the time 14 county firefighters arrived on scene, a shop that was in the process of being remodeled was about 75% engulfed.
Firefighters used defensive strategies to prevent the fire from spreading. The structure was ruled a total loss, but no one was injured.
Friendship Church Road
A second fire erupted at around 12:19 p.m. on Friendship Church Road when a controlled burn spread due to wind conditions and dry vegetation, Blomenkamp said. Around 20 firefighters responded as the fire burned about five acres of land and spread between multiple houses.
No one was injured and no structures were damaged in the second fire.
North Black Walnut Court
The third fire broke out at around 4:13 p.m. on North Black Walnut Court in the Midway area. Around 15 firefighters responded another controlled burn on private property that got out of control after wind picked up embers from a burn pit, spreading the fire to a shed on the same property and to a neighbor's fence, Blomenkamp said.
Both the shed and the privacy fence sustained major damage, but there were no injuries.
Though the first fire was unrelated to weather conditions, Blomenkamp said residents should wait for less dry conditions before performing controlled burns on their property.
"When it's that dry and there's red flag warnings out there, people should refrain from burning," he said. "Even though we've had moisture today, if the sun comes out, we'll be in the same situation because the plants on top are dry and dormant. It just takes a small spark to spread that fire and strong winds can spread that very quickly. Give it another week or so and conditions should change."
