A five alarm fire broke out on November 15 in downtown St. Louis in a warehouse.

The fire was first reported around 10:30 a.m., in the basement of the warehouse of Park Warehouse Services, a third party logistics company. Twelve to 15 people were in the building at the time, according to Fox 2 News. Only one was injured, and one treated and released for smoke related problems. Two firefighters were injured, but nothing life threatening. A wall collapsed on a fire engine as well, damaging it badly.  

“The fire downtown was very tragic, but could’ve been much, much worse. We are lucky that we didn’t see more losses, but of course, it’s good that no one lost their life,” sophomore Hayden See said.

Initial reports said that there were very high levels of Magnesium in the basement of the factory, but that was since proven false. However, being the home to a logistics company, many different things were stored, including books of St. Louis history, candles, shampoos, and sanitizers. The fire burned on for a day straight, and the damages are estimated to cost near a million dollars.

“The firefighters fighting the fire did an exceptional job. They got there quickly and stopped the fire from spreading to surrounding buildings,” freshman Sophia Simpson

Making the job even more dangerous was the fact that there was no sure thing about what was burning inside. Due to all the different things, it was hard for the firefighters to tell what could be dangerously polluting the air, and what was okay. This caused the fire chief to advise all local residents to turn off their HVAC units, but the warning was lifted a few days later.

The fire is now put out, and damage costs are still being totaled.