Two people were hauled out of a burning, supposedly vacant two-story brick building on the 4500 block of North Kingshighway Boulevard in north St. Louis early Sunday, after flames tore through the structure and jumped to the vacant building next door. Both were taken to area hospitals, one with serious injuries and the other transported as a precaution, after a fast-moving fire sent thick smoke rolling across the block and drew a heavy multi-unit response. Crews attacked the blaze from aerial ladders and with hand lines as fire showed on both floors of the original building and spread into the adjacent structure.
According to KSDK, St. Louis Fire Department crews arrived before 5 a.m., pulled two occupants from the primary building and had both patients treated and transported by EMS. The department said a third person was assisted out of the vacant structure and confirmed that one of the patients suffered serious injuries. Fire officials notified the city’s Building Division and requested fire investigators to begin working on what sparked the early-morning blaze.
Vacant buildings magnify risks for crews
The fire also highlighted a long-running and messy reality in St. Louis: thousands of vacant buildings and lots that can draw people seeking shelter and create headaches for first responders. Researchers with the STL Vacancy Collaborative, along with reporting from St. Louis Public Radio, note that the city still has thousands of vacant structures that strain city services and make firefighting far more dangerous. Those lingering vacancy issues help explain why crews so often find themselves walking into heavy fire conditions and unpredictable structural hazards in buildings that are supposed to be empty.
How crews battled the blaze
Firefighters worked from aerial ladders overhead and hand lines on the ground to knock down heavy flames showing on both floors of the main building, then started to push into the second vacant structure as operations stretched into the morning. Photos credited to the St. Louis Fire Department that appeared in early coverage showed thick smoke pouring from the buildings and multiple companies spread across the scene. Investigators will comb through the damage after suppression and overhaul work are complete, according to KSDK…