ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Investigators believe at least ten apartment units were impacted by a Wednesday evening fire in north St. Louis County. Some apartment units were destroyed, others sustained heavy smoke or water damage from the fire.
Chief Dave Volz with the Metro North Fire Department said the fire happened at the Laurel Hill Apartment Complex on the 9600 block of Jacobi Avenue at around 5:30 p.m. All of the units in one building were damaged, and firefighters on the scene said the fire spread to a second building.
Firefighters said it took about 45 minutes to put out the fire. They said the fire may have started in an attic between the two buildings.
The fire spread quickly through one of the buildings. Volz said that building sustained significant damage throughout, including a partial collapse of the second floor. All six of the units in that building suffered heavy damage, and at least two units in the other building were damaged.
Gavin Alfred, a three-year veteran of the St. Louis Fire Department, was among those displaced. He lives in the apartment with his companion and goddaughter.
"Not too many people get second chances at life and that was my biggest concern," he said. "Not the apartment, what it looks like or anything like that. I was more concerned with did everbody make it out? Is everybody OK?"
Alfred took an extra shift on Wednesday, otherwise he may have been in the apartment at the time.
"If he hadn't taken an extra shift he would have been in there sleeping, probably," said his mother Rivian Robinson.
No one was injured in the fire.
The Red Cross will be reaching out to the victims to provide assistance.