Yesterday marked 10 years since the devastating downtown fire in Shelbina. On October 19, 2011 at 10:28 P.M., Shelbina Firefighters were dispatched to the area of Rash’s Barber Shop, for the report of a fire behind the building. Firefighters entered the Sam’s Auto Part’s building, but after some time inside, had to evacuate due to rapidly growing fire conditions. Outside, fire crews not only battled the blaze, but the wind with gusts up to 25 MPH. The city’s water towers were drained to half capacity, so water had to be hauled in from the Shelbina Lake with tankers. A total of approximately 419,000 gallons of water was used on the fire, with 96,000 gallons being hauled in from the lake.
A total of 10 fire departments responded to the scene. You can watch a video with some clips from the fire posted on the Shelbina Fire Protection District’s Facebook page.