St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(TNS)
Aug. 11—MADISON, Ill. — The acrid black smoke may have lessened, but officials said the fight to fully extinguish and investigate what caused a five-alarm fire that burned a Metro East warehouse will continue, possibly for days.
More than 200 first responders from across the region joined the effort to squelch the blaze, which was reported 10 a.m. Wednesday on the property of Interco, a multilevel recycling company at 10 Fox Industrial Drive, according to Lt. Matt Coppin, of the Metro West Fire Protection District.
At its peak, plumes of heavy smoke were visible from more than 10 miles away, and around 2 p.m., a strong burning smell persisted in downtown St. Louis. By about 8:30 p.m., the fire, which had engulfed the warehouse, recycling materials and cars parked nearby, was under control according to Madison Mayor John W. Hamm III.
"Even once the fire is extinguished and placed under control, then we move into the overhaul process where we go through the remains of the building, find hot spots and the investigation process starts," Coppin said.
Hamm said residents in a 1-mile radius were told Wednesday to shelter in place. That shelter-in-place order was lifted for Granite City and Venice late Wednesday evening but remained in place for Madison as of about 8:30 p.m., Madison County Emergency Agency Deputy Director Mary Kate Brown said.
One worker in the building suffered minor burns and was taken to a hospital, Hamm said.
Coppin noted a shelter-in-place advisory was issued instead of an evacuation order because of concerns about air quality from the smoke, which multiple agencies have been monitoring.
"An evacuation takes people outside into that environment that we're concerned about," said Coppin. "Sheltering in place, turning off the air-conditioning, closing the doors — that's the safest place for those residents."
The advisory remained in place as of Wednesday evening.
During the day, a Post-Dispatch photographer observed numerous loud explosions as water made contact with the fire, throwing sparks and debris about 100 feet into the air. Coppin said the explosions were due to hazardous materials catching on fire, but authorities did not specify what materials those were.
Authorities said they would not know what sparked the fire until it was out. Two buildings burned; one was used to recycle batteries and the other was a warehouse, according to Hamm.
This isn't the first large fire at Interco. In March 2020, 21 departments responded to a large fire at the recycling company that damaged nearby businesses MB Steel and St. Louis Reload.
Kim Bell, Dana Rieck and Taylor Tiamoyo Harris of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.
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