The names of two Peace Valley-area residents that perished in a house fire Friday have been released by Howell County Coroner Tim Cherry. He identified the victims as Larry Collins, 51, and Sherry Robinson, 58.
The fire investigation is ongoing, conducted by the Missouri Division of Fire Safety (DFS), and an autopsy has been completed, though the results will probably take about four weeks to get back, Cherry added.
The fire was reported to emergency services at about 11:40 p.m. Dec. 14 at 7799 County Road 1940, with primary response from firefighters with the Peace-Valley White Church Volunteer Fire Department, who found the structure to be fully engulfed on their arrival just after midnight Friday, according to law enforcement radio traffic.
The structure was described by firefighters as two single-wide mobile homes that were connected, and radio traffic revealed at about 12:30 a.m. that morning emergency responders learned there might be two victims.
The Peace Valley-White Church Volunteer Fire Department requested that DFS investigate the fire at 12:33 a.m. Friday, and an investigator arrived at the scene at 1:13 a.m. The victims’ bodies were recovered in the residence, one of them before the DFS investigator arrived at the scene and the other at about 4:58 a.m., following an extensive search, according to DFS. They were released to the Howell County Coroner with a request by DFS for autopsies to be performed.
No one else was reportedly injured in the fire. The house was considered a total loss and DFS has listed the origin of the fire as "undetermined" because of the extent of the damage.
The Howell Rural Fire Protection District No. 1, Pomona Fire Protection District and Mtn. View Fire Department assisted in fighting the fire, with further response provided by the Howell County Sheriff’s Office.
