Little girl credited with saving lives in dock fire

CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — "I put water on the fire, but it didn't work," Sophia Ireland says as she shyly hides next to her father, Blaine.

Sophia survived a massive fire on a boat dock in Camden County but tells OzarksFirst she was scared to speak on camera.

Despite that fear, Blaine decided to share their story with OzarksFirst.

"I was out of town doing some work. I was on my way home, and I got a text message that the boat dock burnt down," Blaine Ireland said. "I got kind of frantic, and I rushed home pretty fast and was speeding."

No injuries were reported, and Sophia is likely one of the first people to notice the fire, since it was she who saw it while getting a glass of water at 1 a.m.

"I saw a fire, and then I ran around the dock and my phone was nearby, but I didn't care, so I just ran to wake my mother up," Sophia said.

During the interview, another person who lived on the dock on a houseboat, like the Irelands, thanked Sophia for her efforts to alert everyone.

"You saved my life," Candace Sands told Sophia. "She was screaming, but Sophia, I'm so proud of you, you're such a good, smart girl. I'm really proud of you. You saved my life, and Molly's."

The Irelands have been living on their houseboat, their only home for several years.

"We lived in Springfield for a long time, you know, and it was a short trip up until she was up here quite a bit with friends, and then she decided when COVID hit, it was a good time, you know, to make a move, make a change. We've been on the dock, building the dock, working it, building it, and maintaining it, and we do live we live here 24/7, around the clock, 365 days a year for three years now," Blaine said. "Everything we had was on the dock, our life belongings. I mean, our wedding rings, our personal effects, our titles, everything we owned, you know, coins, collections, all at the bottom of the lake now. My wife was upset and she was she felt she should have got more things off the dock, you know, mean more things off the boat and things, but those are just materialistic things like the dock is. It can be built again.

Jay Arn, a family friend, has been working to provide the family support as others pitch in.

"It says a lot about some of the people here really do have big hearts and especially people who have, people who got to get them groceries and stuff like that," Arn said. "He's always doing stuff for other people. He's always working for other people, not getting paid, just helping people out all the time, you know?"

"We had a gentleman and a lady contact us. I'm not used to taking charity and I told them, you know, for my daughter, my wife, they shouldn't suffer. They bought them some clothes and groceries and things and it was very kind," Ireland said. "There's been people offering to donate boats, you know, just to give it, food and groceries, clothes, things like that, you know, and sometimes that stuff's hard to take but I've gotta swallow a little bit of pride."

The state fire marshal says they don't believe this fire was started on purpose and can't eliminate the possibility that it was an electrical fire on one of the boats in the dock.

Arn says he's hoping to get someone out to the lake to help dive into the water to look for personal items that might be recoverable for the Ireland family.