Fire breaks out at metro-east industrial plant

Thick plumes of black smoke could be seen for miles around as it billowed from a burning industrial plant near the Mississippi River front in Sauget late Monday afternoon.

The fire erupted in a building at the Eagle Industrial Park in the 2400 block of Mississippi Avenue, just north of the intersection with Monsanto Avenue. The 35-acre site, encircled by fencing and barbed wire, is the former site of Big River Zinc Corp.

According to an online real estate listing, the property was converted in 2006 to a trans-loading operation. There are storage tanks suitable for both dry and liquid storage. It’s not clear what’s currently stored in those tanks or if they are vulnerable to the fire.

This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 5:42 PM.