Stan Musial Bridge reopens after smoke from building fire forced temporary closure

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge reopened Wednesday afternoon days after smoke from a building fire that took place adjacent to the bridge forced both lanes of the bridge to close.

On Monday afternoon, St. Louis Fire Department firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire at a six-story windowless cold storage warehouse in the 1800 block of North Broadway. The warehouse sat adjacent to the bridge.

According to the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) on Tuesday, the St. Louis City Fire Department requested all lanes, in both directions, of the bridge across the Mississippi River to closed due to the fire.

St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson told KMOX News the structure, built in 1922, was the biggest cold storage warehouse west of the Mississippi, with walls of thick brick, concrete, and flammable cork for insulation. All of that's fueled the flames and black smoke.

"It's really built with concrete and bricks and probably three foot thick walls and concrete floors and ceilings," said Jenkerson. "It became apparent that it wasn't going to burn through, it was just cooking inside."

Jenkerson says the building was frequently occupied by homeless individuals.

St. Louis firefighters continue to battle the abandoned cold storage warehouse blaze Wednesday.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department say they are ready to be called in to investigate its origins once the flames are extinguished. Evita Caldwell a spokesperson for the police department says right now they have no indication there is a suspicious cause behind the blaze.