Mo. Fire That Killed 10, Injured Dozens Is Being Treated as a Crime

ANDERSON, Missouri — A fire that killed 10 people and injured two dozen more at a southwest Missouri group home for the elderly and mentally ill yesterday was being treated as a crime, Governor Blunt said.

"We're not saying it is definitely a crime scene, but we are treating it as if it is and trying to determine if the fire was set by somebody who had a nefarious motive," he said.

"It is being treated as a suspicious fire," he said, without elaborating about potential evidence.

The blaze, reported about 1 a.m. and brought under control just before sunrise, reduced the privately run Anderson Guest House to a skeleton of cinder blocks and stunned its namesake city, a former railroad town of about 1,800 people tucked in the Ozark hills about 35 miles south of Joplin.

The home had fire alarms but no sprinklers, Assistant Fire Marshal Greg Carrell said. One of the dead was an employee in the home and the other nine were residents, Mr. Blunt said. Authorities had not yet released the names, pending notification of relatives.