Fire roars through abandoned warehouse

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Smoke could be seen for miles Saturday afternoon, billowing from the scene of a three-alarm fire in the Baden neighborhood.

St. Louis fire captain Garon Mosby tells KMOX eighty firefighters were called to a vacant warehouse in the 8200 block of Hall Street, "We've had some things cook-off or explode, smaller containers inside, and you'll hear a distant boom. We have no idea what is or what was inside that building."

Mosby says part of the building collapsed, so firefighters were unable to gain entry and fought the flames from the outside. He says there also were water supply issues, "For an industrial area at the perimeter of the city, getting to that many plugs is difficult. It's not like we're in a dense residential area. They just are not as plentiful and you need more of them. So, we have to go further and further."

No injuries have been reported.

Mosby says the cause may not be easy to determine, "It's just one of those things where, short of a confession or some very strong video evidence, we may never know. The building sustained a pretty decent collapse. Once you have that, it's not safe to put fire investigators in there to try and peel back the layers to see exactly what happened."

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