A massive fire broke out on the upper floors of a four-story brick apartment building at the intersection of Union & Waterman Blvd in St. Louis, prompting a four-alarm response from local firefighters. According to a post on the St. Louis Fire Department's social media, the blaze began showing heavy fire and smoke from the fourth floor, spreading quickly into the roof area.
Initial attempts at an aggressive interior attack with two lines were quickly thwarted as the fire advanced through void spaces in the common roof, eventually extending to an adjacent apartment building. The expanding inferno caused significant damage to this building before firefighters changed tactics. Over 100 firefighters and EMS personnel were called to the scene to combat the rapidly spreading flames, in a situation that further underscores the unpredictability, and danger inherent in such emergencies.
As conditions worsened, crews were forced to evacuate the primary fire building and shift to a defensive strategy to contain the fire. A thorough primary search of the building had been completed, yielding no victims before the evacuation. In a concentrated effort to battle the inferno, four aerial master streams alongside one hand line were employed during the extinguishment operations.
Despite the size and complexity of the fire, the efforts of the firefighters stopped it from spreading to a D Side exposure building, containing what could have been a more disastrous outcome.
