EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. — Two firefighters are injured following a house fire outside Excelsior Springs in rural Clay County Monday afternoon.

Both were back on the job Monday night, but the home in the 25000 block of NE 136th Street is deemed a total loss. Investigators say the homeowner was burning trash and that fire got out of control.

“I came out here and seen smoke all out here and I heard this boom, boom, bang it sounded like bullets and trucks and gas cans blowing up. When I ran out he was in the driveway. I ran back and tried to call 911,” Darin Berry, a neighbor, said.

Excelsior Springs firefighters arrived to find the fire had spread to the two story home that became fully engulfed in a wooded area. They called for mutual aid from Kearney and Fishing River. Two mutual aid partners were unavailable as they were fighting structure fires as well.

“We were fighting the house fire and then we had to also fight natural cover fire it because it spread out into the adjacent fields. So we took personnel from fighting the structure to fight those fires so they didn’t cross the road,” Excelsior Springs Fire Chief Joe Maddick said.

One Excelsior Spring firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation in the hospital, another injured firefighter refused treatment at the scene. They’re OK as are a woman and dog who escaped the fire and greeted loved ones with a hug at the edge of the property.

The home is considered a total loss, all caused by a burning trash pile.

“Don’t burn. It’s dry, the winds blowing, just wait,” Maddick said.