CAHOKIA HEIGHTS, Ill. – Crews battled a fire at small shopping plaza in the metro east early Tuesday morning.
The first was at the ‘Cahokia One Stop’ on upper Cahokia Road off Jerome Lane. It’s a convenience store that has slot and gaming machines. Fire trucks are still at the scene, as there’s a hole in the roof of the business. Earlier, flames were shooting out of the building.
Someone called in the fire around 1:30 a.m. Cahokia Volunteer Fire Chief Stephen Robbins said it started in the back of the business and spread into the attic area.
There’s a recording studio next door, although the sign says it’s a laundromat and barber and beauty shop. The Dupo Fire Protection District, Praire Du Pont, Camp Jackson and Columbia Fire Departments assisted with the response.
It took crews a little over two hours to get the fires out and under control.
“The fire was in what we consider an attic,” Cheif Robbins shared. “The business originally had a flat roof. Over the years, they came in and put a peak roof over that. So there was about a 3-4 space in between the two roofs and that’s where the fire was trapped at. Getting access to that was kind of difficult.”
No one at the scene was hurt. The businesses were closed when this happened, and we’re told all the firefighters stayed safe. The state fire marshal will be investigating the cause of the fires.
FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.
