ST. LOUIS – Firefighters across the St. Louis metro area spent Tuesday battling brush fires from St. Peters to De Soto. Some of those fires got out of control quickly due to the dry, windy conditions.

FOX 2 was on the scene of one of those brush fires off of St. Peters Parkway. Fire officials said it quickly spread to a densely wooded area, knocking down trees and branches and forcing quick action from roughly 30 firefighters across three different departments.

Central County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief David Maupin said the terrain posed a major challenge for firefighters there Tuesday.

“The woods area was a huge issue. We just couldn’t get our vehicles through there,” Maupin said.

Responders don’t know the exact cause of the fire yet, but it may have started with a cigarette butt. Tuesday’s warm, dry, windy conditions caused at least three of these fires county-wide.

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“This is just unusual for us, it being almost 80 degrees at the end of February,” Maupin said.

Fire Chief Thomas Fitzgerald said a fire in De Soto was just one of several recent examples of controlled burns getting out of control.

“It will flat outrun you. Sometimes it’s hard to drive fast enough to get away from it if our crews get caught in a bad spot,” Fitzgerald said.

A series of fires around the area Tuesday also led to a smell of smoke lingering in the air around St. Louis.

Fitzgerald’s team fought three brushfires alone on Tuesday. He had one message for anyone planning to do a controlled burn.

“Exercise caution, because it will get out of hand fast,” Fitzgerald said.

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