I have just heard today that there was an Oregon Co. jail fire where at least one prisoner was killed....Since I was just down there on Monday, am curious as to when it happened, and the details! Can any locals shed light? Lanita

Lanita, According to what was told on the TV news tonight, there was a fire in the 3rd floor of the courthouse, in the jail. In one of the cells, a fire had been started by using Styrofoam, pages from the Bible and parts of a mattress. I think there were three inmates in the one cell and the one death was of a young man with the surname of Johnson. Young man in his early 20's. The other 2 inmates were taken to West Plains hospital and treated. The fire had been started on purpose. The courthouse wasn't badly damaged. The 3rd floor area had some smoke and water damage, but not much damage at all. Business as usual was held at the courthouse today, is what the TV news people said this evening on the 10 p.m. news from Springfield, MO. Becky ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lanita Sconce Smith" <ozarkn@grm.net> To: "Oregon Co.History List History List" <MO-OREGON-HISTORY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 10:20 PM Subject: [MO-OREGON-HISTORY] Oregon County Jail fire >I have just heard today that there was an Oregon Co. jail fire where at > least one prisoner was killed....Since I was just down there on Monday, > am curious as to when it happened, and the details! > > Can any locals shed light? > Lanita > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MO-OREGON-HISTORY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

Lanita, Well. I did make a few errors in what I said about the fire at the courthouse in Alton. Here is what was said from one of the Springfield MO TV news stations: · A fatal fire at an Ozarks jail claims the life of at least one inmate. Jail personnel went through their daily check inside the facility around 9:20 p.m. Thursday night. But within 20 minutes, fire alarms, thick smoke and screaming inmates indicated something was terribly wrong. On Friday, blown out windows and debris is what's left after an area inside the Oregon County jail went up in flames. "There was a fire started at the jail, Thursday night. The fire didn't do much damage, but a lot of smoke was involved." says Leo Warren, Oregon County Presiding County Commissioner. Eric Keck is a volunteer fire fighter with the BB Road Fire Department. He says the thick smoke made it hard for rescue workers to fight the fire. "I got here and we were guiding traffic. There was a lot of traffic, a lot of people standing around. They were doing most of the work on the north side of the building here and they pulled, I want to say six people roughly." says Keck. · There were four men in the jail cell where the blaze began, 19-year-old Cody Davis, 22-year-old Robert Hall, 18-year-old Nicholas Pacheco and 17-year-old Jesse Johnson. Johnson died at the scene. The other three men were taken to St. John's Hospital in Springfield in critical condition. Keck says, "There are three sets of stairs, I believe, going up into that. It's all enclosed up there and from what I heard when I was talking with one of the gentleman from Alton, it was really hard finding; there was so much smoke. It was really hard finding the first person, trying to get in there, there was so much smoke." Investigators found paper, Styrofoam cups, pieces of a bible, mail, a shower curtain and a mattress burned in the corner of the wall and shower. County officials tell KOLR/KSFX the quick thinking of emergency responders is what helped put the flames out. "What's important, I think, a lot of it is law enforcement and our fire departments are cross trained. The sheriff is on the fire departments and a lot of fire departments work for the sheriff and city police here in Alton. Being cross trained is probably kept the injured to a minimum." says Warren. Two other inmates were transported to the Ozark Medical Center in West Plains, Missouri. 47-year-old Timothy Martin and 51-year-old Rodney Reed were in a cell in another area of the jail. An autopsy has been requested in regards to the cause of Jessie Johnson's death. Meantime, the State Fire Marshal's Office says the investigating is ongoing.

Well, after messing the last message up so badly, here is the addy to go to the site about the fire at the courthouse in Alton. http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=11456 Beck ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lanita Sconce Smith" <ozarkn@grm.net> To: "Oregon Co.History List History List" <MO-OREGON-HISTORY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 10:20 PM Subject: [MO-OREGON-HISTORY] Oregon County Jail fire >I have just heard today that there was an Oregon Co. jail fire where at > least one prisoner was killed....Since I was just down there on Monday, > am curious as to when it happened, and the details! > > Can any locals shed light? > Lanita > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MO-OREGON-HISTORY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

Becky. Thanks so much for sending that info on the fire! Lanita