Tenants left with few belongings after fire destroys eight apartments in Cahokia Heights
Editor’s note/Update: Cahokia Heights apartment building catches fire again Sunday evening. Read the story here.
Hannah White woke up Saturday morning to loud knocking on her door by a friend, letting her know that a fire had broken out at her Cahokia Heights apartment building.
Hours later, White and her 11-year-old son, A’Fontai Stringer, were homeless.
“My apartment didn’t actually catch fire, but I had so much water damage,” said White, a housekeeping supervisor. “I walked in there (Sunday), and it was still flooding.
“My kitchen fell in. There were holes in my room, my son’s room, the bathroom, the living room. We literally lost everything. Everything got water or smoke damage.”
White and A’Fontai lived in a downstairs, two-bedroom unit at Cottonwood Park Apartments, a complex with 88 units in 11 buildings off Mississippi Avenue. The fire destroyed their building, which had five units occupied by nine tenants, including three children.
The fire started about 7 a.m. Saturday in the kitchen of an upstairs unit, where a man was cooking breakfast and “something didn’t go right,” according to White, who gave him her fire extinguisher.
“I guess he was running up the stairs, and he fell, and it broke the handle of the fire extinguisher,” she said.
White called 911, got dressed and began warning other residents, including an elderly neighbor, to get out of the building. Volunteer firefighters from Cahokia, Columbia, Church Road, Alorton, Camp Jackson, Prairie Du Pont, Dupo and Millstadt showed up to put out the fire.
Cahokia Volunteer Fire Department Chief Stephen Robbins couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday. He told KSDK on Saturday that the fire was likely caused by cooking in the upstairs unit. It spread along the roof in the attic.
Everyone got out of the apartments, and no one was injured, Robbins said. “There were smoke detectors. We did hear them going off throughout the building.”
The American Red Cross has offered to help Cottonwood tenants get back on their feet.
The complex is under new ownership, according to its Facebook page. It’s described as a “quiet, well-maintained community” with newly renovated units and a full-time maintenance staff on site. The owner couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday.
White has lived in two different units at Cottonwood over six years. She’s now moving into a third, but she has to start over with furniture, clothing and other belongings.
“I didn’t want to bring any wet stuff here,” White said. “It’s going to mold. It’s going to smell.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2022 at 6:06 PM.
