BLACK JACK, Mo. — Multiple families were displaced after a fire at an apartment complex in north St. Louis County Monday night.
Chief Roger Ellison with the Black Jack Fire Protection District told 5 On Your Side the three-alarm fire broke out just before 7 p.m. at Paddock Village Apartment Complex on Culpepper Drive. Residents were able to evacuate before firefighters arrived at the scene.
Nearly 70 firefighters and over a dozen fire trucks arrived to find heavy flames in the garage on the bottom level of the complex that reached up to the roof, Ellison said. They were able to contain the fire to four units, leaving four families displaced.
But at about 3 a.m. Tuesday, firefighters were called back to the apartments when flames again when a small gutter fire rekindled. The flames were put out quickly, and no one was hurt in the process, the chief said.
Ellison said late Monday afternoon that a cigarette that had not been properly thrown away caused the fire.
The fire displaced about nine adults and nine children, Ellison said.
The Bomb and Arson Unit was investigating, a process Ellison said was standard for all large fires in Black Jack.
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