Warehouse Still Smoldering, and Will for 2-3 Weeks

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The warehouse fire that shut down the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge is still smoldering. KMOX was at the warehouse Thursday afternoon. Z & L Wrecking was on the scene and told us the building could smolder for two to three weeks. The St. Louis Fire Department is on standby.

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 Musial 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 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.