Baby Acree 2002-October 15th 2007

The cause of a fire Monday that extensively damaged the two-story Literberrry home of Brenda Acree has not been determined, but the blaze is not believed to be suspicious. Mrs. Acree, who was renting the house at 2291 West St., was not at home at the time. When she arrived at the house fire, she reportedly burst into tears and started feeling chest pains. She was transported by ambulance to Passavant Area Hospital, where she was treated and released. South Jacksonville Firefigher Mike Broaddus also was transported by ambulance to the hospital. “Apparently, he got a little over heated, and he started having some chest pains,” said South Jacksonville Fire Chief Dave Hickox, whose department handled the fire. “His vitals all checked out real well, but his heart rate, of course, was up a little bit. Just for precautionary reasons, they are taking him to Passavant.” Mr. Broaddus later was admitted to Passvant Area Hospital and listed in stable condition about 9 p.m. Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. No one was at home at the time the fire was discovered, but two dogs reportedly died in the blaze. A third dog in the yard was not injured. Mrs. Acree’s husband, James, 46, died Sept. 28 while in Missouri where he worked. The house reportedly is owned by Mrs. Acree’s mother-in-law, Helen Acree. South Jacksonville firefighters, assisted by the Jacksonville Fire Department, brought the flames under control after battling the blaze for nearly two hours. “I believe (the house is) going to be a total loss,” Chief Hickox said. “The whole back side of the house is completely gone. There’s a lot of smoke and water damage throughout the structure. It looks like the floor where the fire initially started has burned through into the basement.” Because of the extent of the damage, the cause is not likely to be determined, but it possibly was electrical in nature, Chief Hickox said. A hot water heater was recently installed in the home, and it is unknown whether that was factor in the fire’s cause, he added. Chief Hickox said the fire apparently began in a utility room at the back southwest corner of the house. Flames spread to the kitchen before heading to an upstairs bedroom, attic and roof, he added. The fire was called in shortly after noon by an AmerenIP employee who saw smoke coming from the house when he was working on a nearby power pole, said Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputy Ed Mohan. Because the homeowner does not subscribe with the Jacksonville Fire Department for fire fighting protection, South Jacksonville Fire Department responded to the fire. While en route, the South Jacksonville Fire Department requested Jacksonville send a tanker truck with water, which arrived at the house a minute or so after the South Jacksonville fire trucks, said Jacksonville Capt. Beth Kershaw. The six on-duty Jacksonville firefighters responded later, after the South Jacksonville Fire Department requested aid. “You can see right now that we’re all beat and dead tired,” Chief Hickox said shortly after firefighters from both departments brought the blaze under control at about 2 p.m. “We’ve got more reinforcements coming in, thank God,” he added. “Jacksonville is coming in with more off-duty firemen.” Four off-duty Jacksonville firefighters responded to the scene to provide more air packs and to assist the firefighters already on the scene. No Jacksonville firefighters were hurt, Capt. Kershaw said. Deputy Mohan said he was on the scene for about 10 minutes when South Jacksonville fire trucks arrived, “But they responded quickly from where they had to come. “A bunch of smoke was coming from the back of the residence. Smoke was not coming from the upper part of the house at that point,” Deputy Mohan said. Only the dog in the back yard was barking. The deputy prevented a neighbor from trying to rescue the dogs inside after the deputy discovered the front door was hot and smoke was rolling out from under it. The first firefighters, Chief Hickox and Capt. Brian Glascock, arrived in a pickup truck ahead of the South Jacksonville fire trucks. Both firemen were on the west side of Jacksonville when the fire call came in, “So we just drove out here, and we had our guys put our equipment in the truck, and we met them over here,” Chief Hickox. A nearby propane tank was disconnected, and AmerenIP already had the electrical power disconnected, Chief Hickox said. “The toughest thing about the fire was, when we actually got into the house, it’s so cut up, and it’s like maze in there,” Chief Hickox said. The house is sided with asphalt shingles with wooden slats behind them, “so it went right, straight up the wall into the attic, because there was no barrier to stop it.” The firefighters remained on the scene until about 3:15 p.m. The home and its contents are covered by insurance, Chief Hickox said. Mrs. Acree’s neighbors helped move a large camper that was parked alongside of the burning house. Jacksonville Fire Chief Rick Kluge said under special circumstances his department will respond to a fire out of town at a non-subscriber’s residence. “If they say someone is still in the house and it’s life-threatening, we’ll roll for that,” Chief Kluge explained. In addition, the department will respond if a fire near a highway has the potential for a traffic hazard or if a fire threatens a nearby home that does have Jacksonville fire coverage.




Baby was a friend of Pound Dog Rescue. Her love instantly pierced your heart and her stamina wore your arm tried playing fetch. When she stayed with Pound Dog Rescue, she was bothered by another dog, so they would be seperate when it was time to be in the yard. I would take Baby into the bathroom to calm her, telling her how much I loved her, often singing little songs to her in my big off-key voice. I wished I could do that for her now...

Belle