Dec. 30--ST. LOUIS --Firefighters using five ladder trucks in the frigid cold early Monday fought a raging fire that destroyed the Obama Meat Market in St. Louis.
The butcher shop was gutted, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
The two-story brick building is at 2025 East Grand Boulevard, near the Grand Avenue Water Tower in the city's College Hill neighborhood. At 6 a.m., it was a two-alarm blaze, and flames were shooting from the roof as crews tried to keep the fire from spreading.
St. Louis Fire Capt. Garon Mosby, the public relations officer with the fire department, said the fire was reported before 5:30 a.m.
About 50 firefighters fought the fire with 10-12 pieces of fire equipment, Mosby said. The roof of the butcher shop partially collapsed, but crews never fought the blaze from inside the building. They knew when they arrived that the market, which was engulfed in flames, was closed and no one was trapped inside.
Firefighters had the fire under control within two hours. The street around them had turned into a slippery mess as ice quickly formed; the temperature was 11 degrees.
Obama Shalabi, who owns the building and the store, said he opened his business about five years ago. Five buildings sit side-by-side on that block, and Shalabi's shop is on the end. He owns the building next to it, as well. Those two were destroyed by the fire.
A couple of years ago, there was a fire on the second floor of Shalabi's building. It was primarily used for storage, he said. He made the repairs to reopen the business.
Shalabi said the butcher shop closed for the night on Sunday at about 7 p.m. He said fire officials haven't talked to him yet about what may have caused the fire.
Shalabi said he plans to stay in business. "We will fix it back up," he said.
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