Volunteer firefighters in Ozark County could only watch as a fire destroyed their own station early Tuesday morning.
The fire at the Gainesville Fire Department occurred one month to the day after flash flooding left a mess inside the station. The department hadn’t fully cleaned up from the flood waters when the fire occurred.
"Everything we saved from the flood was destroyed in the fire," says Gainesville Fire Chief, Ed Doiron, while staring inside one of the burned out fire truck bays.
"We pretty much dodged a bullet [after the flood] by saving the fire trucks,” he says. “Because we were fully functional as a department. As far as this goes, I’m still-- it hasn't sunk in yet. I'm sure it will at some point but right now it's just a numbing effect."