St. Louis firefighters returned with heavy machinery to search the rubble for a homeless person reported missing by others who escaped the fire

By Kim Bell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS — Days after a massive warehouse fire, St. Louis crews returned Tuesday with heavy machinery to search for the body of a missing homeless person.

St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said other homeless people who escaped the building Friday reported one of their friends still missing.

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Jenkerson said they have pinpointed an area inside the sprawling warehouse where the homeless people had gathered, trying to keep warm.

The historic factory complex that burned Friday is south of downtown. It is at South 2nd and Cedar streets just south of Interstate 64. The buildings, which were slated for redevelopment, were part of the 105-year-old Crunden-Martin warehouses.

Searchers on Tuesday were focused on that part of the warehouse with a front-loader to pick and pull away at the building. The fire investigation unit is watching and guiding the search, he said.

“If we do find something, we’ll stop the operation,” he said. “If we need the dogs to go in and take a better look, we can bring in our dogs.”

“This is a large warehouse complex,” he said. “This won’t be done quick. It’s cold and it’s wet and everything down there is frozen.”

The chief wouldn’t say if the missing person is a man or woman.

The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. Jenkerson said the homeless people living in the structure were likely using a fuel source to try to keep warm.

Jenkerson said the city of St. Louis has done “a tremendous job” with its “Code Blue” preparations providing shelter to homeless people during this cold spell. The city tries to ensure that local residents have shelter and warmth once the cold weather sets in. Those measures are automatically put in motion when forecasts predict that conditions will reach 25 degrees or below.

“Because of the city’s efforts ... we haven’t seen as many vacant house fires,” he said. Before the city’s increased efforts to provide shelter, firefighters were seeing three to five vacant houses fires a night, he said.

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