FLORISSANT, Mo. — A fire broke out at the Jamestown Mall in north St. Louis County Wednesday evening.
Multiple agencies responded to the fire around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday. Smoke can be seen coming out of the building.
The Black Jack Fire Protection District Interim Chief Roger Ellison said arriving crews saw flames shooting through the roof on what used to be the Dillard's side of Jamestown Mall.
Ellison said two firefighters were injured and transported to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries.
He said they had to use drones to get a better visual on the fire and attack it on both sides.
Ellison said there is a lack of water supply to the area and the building had no electricity to support sprinklers or fire suppression systems.
He said they even had to call in heavy equipment to get to the heart of the deep-seeded fire.
Ellison said the decaying and vacant nature of the building also makes it difficult for crews.
"Absolutely for the firefighters because you know the buildings are falling down naturally, add the fire to it and it weakens it as well. We have to get in and work on it, so it doesn’t create more of a hazard for us," Ellison said.
St. Louis County Council Chair Shalonda Webb said she has wanted this building to come down for 11 years.
She hopes this incident creates a sense of urgency to move forward with demolition so that no other lives are put at risk.
"I know it's just probably to others another fire. People will say, 'Oh it needs to come down anyway.' But for this community, it's enough. It is definitely enough. We want it down and we want to have something that represents us and for it to be a beacon for this community," Webb said.
St. Louis County Port Authority staff said the environmental remediation has been completed so there are no longer any hazardous materials inside.
They said they've secured $12 million to demolish it and have agreements in place with the state but are still finalizing the agreements with the county.
"It's just ready to go as soon as we finalize getting the funding in place and all the agreements executed. Then we should be in the position to basically issue proposals for a demolition contract and take the property down," Jaqueline Wellington, with the St. Louis County Port Authority, said.
Wellington said there has been one other significant fire at the mall on the other side in 2019.
Demolition could begin as soon as four months from now.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and under investigation.