Fire Destroys Project Hangar at Pinckneyille-Du Quoin Airport

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A 9 a.m. fire Friday destroyed a privately-owned project hangar at the Pinckneyville-Du Quoin airport, located along Rt. 13-127 in central Perry County.

The hangar was owned by an aircraft restorer and rebuilder identified as Johnny Johnson. The hangar is located to the immediate south of the airport's own offices and two stand-alone hangars.

Residents Russell and Barb Winter, who live immediately across from the airport, saw flames in the window of an efficiency apartment on the west side of the building and called Perry County Emergency 911. Mr. Winter crossed the highway and went to the hangar to make sure no one was inside. Johnson's personal vehicle was gone, leading all to believe no one was inside as the fire grew.

As small explosions and "popping" erupted inside, Winter stepped back and waited for firefighters.

Firefighters were quick to knock down flames. Heat from the fire had already begun breaking windows in the steel building. Firefighters did not allow flames to reach an airport-owned hangar to the immediate north nor a 100 gallon above ground fuel tank sitting right behind the hanger.

Equipment and personnel from the Pinckneyville Rural Fire Protection District, the City of Du Quoin and the villages of Willisville and Tamaroa responded. Ambulances from the Pinckneyville Ambulance Service were also on scene. Smoke from the fire could be seen 10 miles away and drifted westward.

Water tankers brought to the airport were critical in fighting the fire as there was no large water supply in the immediate vicinity.

It is too early to establish the cause of the fire.

The airport itself is on the eve of a $1 million hangar construction project. The airport is owned and operated jointly by the two communities through a Pinckneyville-Du Quoin Airport Board.