Fire destroys heating and cooling business in East St. Louis

The Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office is working to determine the cause for an early morning blaze on Thursday at a heating and cooling business on Ninth Street and Dr. Martin Luther King. This building has been the site of numerous fires, but no one has said anything about whether they think the fires were deliberately set.

At least eight firefighters from two crews fought the blaze after the call came in around 4:45 a.m. at Forever Green, located at 921 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. There were no injuries, East St. Louis Fire Chief Jason Blackmon said. The fire crews returned to the scene at 8:15 a.m. after receiving a call reporting smoke coming from the building.

“We returned to do a smoke investigation. It took us about an hour to put it out,” Blackmon said.

He said there have been at least three fires at the building.

Asked for the cause and origin of Thursday’s fire, Blackmon said the investigation is in the hands of the state fire marshal’s office.

The interior of the stone/brick building is a complete loss. The building did have appliances inside of it, Blackmon said. A large fence surrounds the building, and there is a camera on the utility pole nearby. Whether or not the camera was working is a question Blackmon did not know the answer to. He said he is looking into it.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Fire destroys heating and cooling business in East St. Louis."