Fire destroys apartment building in St. Clair County village
An early morning fire in Washington Park gutted four apartments early Wednesday morning.
The blaze occurred on North 57th Street, across the street from another devastating fire that destroyed the village’s police, fire and public works departments on Oct. 26.
“It was like deja vu all over again,” said Washington Park Mayor Leonard Moore, who says he’s frustrated by the lack of assistance the village has received from the state. “Five months later we are still being ignored by our leaders and representatives we voted into office.”
Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Harris said the department was notified of Wednesday’s fire at 4:19 a.m. and that crews were on the scene “within minutes.”
“We found heavy fire shooting through the roof of apartments 1 and 2,” he said. “The fire quickly spread to the adjacent apartments. The apartments sit close together, so the fire spread quickly from one unit to the next.”
Residents of the building were evacuated with the help of Washington Park police, Harris said. There were no injuries.
Harris said it is believed the fire started in apartment No. 1, which was vacant. Otherwise, Harris would not speculate on a cause of the blaze. The Illinois Fire Marshal has been called to investigate, he said.
The building was completely destroyed.
It took firefighters about three hours to extinguish the flames. The Cahokia Heights Fire Department assisted, Harris said.
