MARSHALL WHITE
St. Joseph News-Press
Inside: Post/View Condolences
Photo Courtesy of St. Joseph News-Press
Platte County authorities charged Jason Hendrix, 26, with starting a fire that led to the death of a volunteer firefighter.
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DEARBORN, Mo. -- A volunteer firefighter has been charged with starting the fire that led to the death of a Dearborn volunteer firefighter on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Platte County Sheriff’s Department arrested Jason Hendrix, 26, for starting a barn fire at Missouri Route B and Malcolm Lake Road on Saturday. He is a resident of Dearborn and was a volunteer firefighter with the Edgerton Trimble Fire Department.
Mr. Hendrix confessed to having started the barn fire and several other fires in the Platte County area over the course of the last few weeks and has been charged with second-degree arson, a class C felony, reported Shelle Browning, a spokeswoman for the Platte County Sheriff’s Department.
Sheriff’s Department personnel are continuing their investigation but aren’t saying if additional charges will be filed.
Bond for Mr. Hendrix has been set at $20,000.
"It was a shock when he (Mr. Hendrix) started doing this," said Darren Paden, assistant fire chief with the Dearborn Area Fire Protection District, who acted as spokesman for the other volunteers of the Dearborn department. "When he started doing this he no longer was a firefighter."
Travis Brown, 30, a volunteer firefighter, was riding with driver Perry McAully on a Dearborn Volunteer Fire Department tanker truck in response to a request for help in fighting the barn fire. The request for help came from the Edgerton Trimble Fire Department in Edgerton, Mo.
The Dearborn tanker truck left the road and overturned at about 4:15 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Missouri Route B and Buena Vista Road between Edgerton and Ridgely, Mo.
Mr. Brown was thrown from the truck and pronounced dead at the scene, a dispatcher for the sheriff’s department said.
Mr. McAully sustained serious injuries and was taken by helicopter to Liberty Hospital, Liberty, Mo.
Mr. McAully’s condition Sunday had been upgraded to fair condition, said Mark Arnold, a nursing supervisor at Liberty Hospital.
"The fatality was a real tragedy," said Rick Lumm, pastor of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church and chaplain to the Edgerton Trimble Fire Department. "We’re a small community and both the Brown and McAully families will be supported."
Mr. Brown is survived by his wife and five children, Mr. Paden said. Mr. Brown had worked with the department for about two years and in his regular work was a nurse for an area health organization, Mr. Paden said.
A memorial fund has been established at the Platte Valley Bank, P.O. Box 26, Dearborn, MO 64439, said Dearborn Fire Chief Ron Manville.
Visitation for Mr. Brown will be held today from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Rollins Funeral Home in Platte City, Missouri.
The memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday at the North Platte High School in Dearborn. Following the memorial service, a procession will travel from North Platte High School to Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Missouri Highway P.
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