Southeast Missourian

Two fires in Perry County this week caused total losses at a mobile home and a house under construction. Assistant chief of the Perryville Fire Department and Perry County Rural Fire Protection District, Bill Jones says passers-by reported both fires — the first Sunday night at a mobile home on Highway 51 in the area south of Perryville known as Friendly Valley. Firefighters received a call at 10:42 p.m. Sunday with a report of light smoke in the area and an orange glow visible inside the mobile home, where Jones said a couple lived, but were not home at the time of the fire. Fire damage was limited to the kitchen and living room area, but heat and smoke damage made it a total loss. The cause of the fire is believed to have started in the living room, on or near a recliner. Then early Thursday, a motorist on U.S. 61 called in a fire at 3:19 a.m. at a large house being built at 239 County Road 400 near Longtown. By the time crews arrived fire had spread throughout most of the structure. An initial investigation by the fire department and another investigation by an insurance company could not determine the cause of the fire, and burn patterns were somewhat odd but the fire is not considered suspicious. Wind may have played a role in spreading the fire and the house is considered a total loss.