St. Francois County, MO -- A third-alarm commercial fire Sunday night at a pawn shop near the St. Francois County line and the Jefferson County line pushed area firefighters to the limit. When firefighters went into the fully involved structure of what used to be W. Davison Inc. Pawn Shop located at the junction of U.S. 67 and Route JJ, they not only had to contend with intense flames, but also had to deal with renegade ammunition that was going off due to the intense heat.
"We were inside the structure and heard ammunition going off," said Nick Jennings of the Desloge Fire Department. "The roof then started collapsing and we had to get out."
Alan Wells, Director of St. Francois County 911 Communications, said while the immediate area of the exploding ammunition was a dangerous place to be, exploding ammunition normally doesn't have the projectile that it would if it were fired out of a gun.
First responders were dispatched to the pawn shop at 9 p.m. The Big River Fire Protection District was the primary responding fire department but was quickly joined by numerous other fire departments due to a lack of water and the size of the fire.
"When we first got on the scene the fire was well involved in the rear of the structure," said Big River Fire Protection District Chief David Pratte. "De Soto Rural was on the scene within two and a half minutes and immediately upgraded the fire from a first-alarm to a second-alarm. I immediately called for more water and the fire eventually went to a third-alarm."
Chad Brenneke, of the Big River Fire Protection District, said the biggest obstacle in fighting the blaze was lack of water.
"With no nearby fire hydrants all the water had to brought in by tankers," said Brenneke. "We are accessing water from several locations including a hydrant near Hedgeapple Lane, a hydrant in Bonne Terre, De Soto Rural Firehouse 2, Valley Lake and Lake Timberline."
Lieutenant J.D. Ray, of the Big River Fire Protection District agreed that water was the biggest issue in fighting the third-alarm fire.
"If the roof had not collapsed, we might have been able to stretch our water a little bit more and get the fire under control quicker," Ray said "When we arrived on the scene a garage in the back was fully involved and was starting to spread to the main structure."
Firefighters battled the fire for nearly two hours before the blaze was knocked down. The metal building melted from the inside out as flames burst through the tin. By the time the fire was extinguished enough to where damage could be assessed, all that was left standing were the uprights and a few sections of tin.
One firefighter said he estimated that at one time there were close to 100 firefighters at the scene on Sunday. Responders were still on the scene after 10 a.m. this morning. The fire is under investigation by the state fire marshall's office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
