Portageville Fire & Rescue

04/22/2026

Heres short clip of yesterday's fire of a aggresive interior attack as FF: Al DeLisle, FF: Trey Ellis, FF: Jonathan Patton made a push inside the structure.

04/22/2026

On Tuesday around 5:00 p.m., while fire crews were assigned to a special detail at a school event, units were dispatched to a structure fire on King Avenue at the Hungry Hippo Restaurant.

Ladder 10 and Tanker 15 arrived first on scene and reported a single-story commercial building with heavy smoke and fire showing from the rear. Crews quickly established a water supply and initiated an aggressive interior attack.

Firefighters located the seat of the fire in a storage room at the back of the restaurant. Crews worked efficiently to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to the rest of the building.

Firefighters remained on scene until approximately 10:00 p.m., extinguishing hotspots. The Portageville Fire Department would like to thank everyone who responded and assisted.

The building sustained moderate damage to the rear, along with smoke damage throughout the remainder of the structure. The State Fire Marshal’s Office has been requested to investigate the cause of the fire.

04/03/2026

The Portageville Rural Fire Department proudly stands in support of the New Madrid County Ambulance District and their proposed tax increase.

We understand that no one welcomes higher taxes. However, those who attended the recent town hall meetings heard firsthand that this is only a $0.50 increase. For the average family of four, that comes out to roughly $120 per year—a small price when it comes to maintaining and improving emergency medical services for our community.

As first responders, we see the reality every day. The cost of equipment, vehicles, training, and personnel continues to rise, with very little relief from insurance or private pay. Whether it’s police, fire, or EMS, we all face these challenges on the front lines.

When our tones drop, we rely heavily on EMTs and paramedics at crash scenes and structure fires. Having the right tools, training, and support is critical—not just for us, but for the safety and care of every citizen in New Madrid County.

A “YES” vote on Tuesday, April 7th will not only support our fellow first responders—it will ensure better care and protection for our entire community.

03/31/2026

On Monday afternoon around 5:00 p.m., the Portageville Fire Department was requested by Matthews Fire Department to provide mutual aid to LaForge for a grain bin fire

A ladder truck responded with a crew of four personnel, along with a tanker staffed by a crew of two. Upon arrival on scene, aerial operations were established using the ladder truck, while tanker operations were initiated with assistance from New Madrid and Lilbourn tanker units.

Matthews Fire Department personnel were actively engaged in fire attack operations from the base of the grain bin.
Incident closed at 6:30 P. M

03/27/2026

Serious Crash on I-55
Thursday Evening
On Thursday evening around 7:52 p.m., Portageville Rescue and New Madrid Rescue were dispatched to Interstate 55 at the 43-mile marker northbound for a two-vehicle crash involving entrapment.
At the time of the incident, the interstate was already reduced to one lane with heavy traffic due to a previous vehicle fire that New Madrid Fire was working near the 47-mile marker.
Upon arrival, crews found a Ford Explorer had struck the rear of a semi-truck, becoming lodged underneath the trailer. The driver was alert but seriously pinned inside the vehicle.
Emergency crews from New Madrid and Portageville worked for an extended period, alongside JSH Towing, to safely free the driver. Once extricated, the driver was airlifted to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.

Incidents like this require tremendous teamwork and dedication. Thank you to all first responders who worked together to provide the best possible care.
⚠️ Please slow down and stay alert, especially when approaching emergency scenes.

03/07/2026

Our thoughts & prayers are with the Butler County firefighters and their families.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1BxqYwXEZD/

Our thoughts and prayers are with Butler County Fire Department after the loss of one of their firefighters around 4 p.m. Friday in an accident on W Highway. Early reports are that one of their apparatus was involved in a single vehicle crash. One firefighter is reported to have suffered critical injuries.

We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

03/05/2026

Delayed post, here's some pictures from February. We focused on Rural water supply training at end of month. This training helped our firefighters understand relay pumping using our Tanker truck, this is very important in non hydrant areas for large scale fires. Also we had some vehicle fires out on Interstate during the month.

01/31/2026

Recent incident update
On Friday January 30 around 2:50 P.M. Portageville Fire was dispatched to Portageville Nursing Center for smoke inside the bulding. An automatic mutual aid call was placed for New Madrid Fire as well as an all-call for all available police officers and New Madrid County ambulances. Engine 1 and Ladder 10 responded. Upon arrival, nursing staff was already in the process of evacuating the patients. Light smoke was contained inside the main area of the nursing home and the suspected fire source was contained to just one room. Residents were brought back inside the bulding and placed in safe areas of the building while crews searched for the source. A breaker fuse had short- circuited and caused the smoke, but there was no active fire. At this time, all residents were returned to their rooms and emergency crews returned to service.
Portageville Fire would like to extend our thanks for the quick response and help of the Portageville Police, New Madrid County Sheriff's Office, New Madrid Fire, New Madrid County Ambulance, New Madrid Police and the staff of the nursing home. Everyone working together allowed a quick resolution with minimal disruption to the residents of the nursing home. Again thank you to everyone for your help.

01/30/2026

A huge thank you to our city crews for putting in endless hours to get our water system back up and running in these cold temperatures. In times like these, it's great to see everyone come together to help communities in need. Thank you to the city of New Madrid, Mayor, Nick White and to Landon Roberts and the crew of Nucor for the very generous donation of pallets of water. We would also like to thank the Portageville firemen for helping distribute the water. We appreciate Food Rite and Baker implement for their services, and anybody else I've missed that has been helping our city crews and our community as a whole. We appreciate everything you have done to help our citizens during this difficult time.

01/30/2026

We will be at fire station tonight from 8:00 - 10 p.m for anybody needing any water tonight

01/16/2026

Always good to help our neighboring department and everyone coming together to get the job done. Glad the situation wasnt no worse and there were no injuries.