House declared total loss after fire

<span>Two Randolph County fire departments responded to the report of a structure fire Saturday night on Perry County Road 238 in Missouri just south of Route 51.</span>

<span>No one was home at the time of the fire.</span>

<span>"The homeowners were at Wappapello Lake," said Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert.</span>

<span>Chester firefighters were toned out at 7:39 p.m. to assist Perry County Rural Fire Protection and arrived to find a single-story house fully engulfed and a nearby machine shed in danger. The Ellis Grove Fire Department sent a tanker to the scene and provided station coverage for Chester.</span>

<span>Crews were able to cool down the machine shed, while the house is deemed to be a total loss.</span>

<span>"I talked to the Perryville chief and he said they think it started in the basement," Bert said. "It burned all the way to the ground, so it will be hard to determine what caused it."</span>

<span>The Evansville Fire Department provided station coverage for Ellis Grove. All units were back in service at 10:30 p.m.</span>

<span>"Nobody was going to go into that structure, so it was a defensive fire," Bert said. "There was a machine shed that was 15 feet away, so we put some water on it and used our cannon to knock down the fire."</span>