ST. LOUIS – In North St. Louis, another historic church has been lost to a fire—the fifth in just five years.
Investigators are still working to determine what caused the fire, but officials say the damage is extensive.
Firefighters rushed to the church at 19th Street and Newhouse Avenue before noon on Monday. Heavy smoke poured from the roof to the bell tower, and crews were forced to evacuate shortly after entering the building.
St. Louis Fire Department Captain Garon Mosby said, “These fires don’t start by themselves. There was no lighting in the area. The building did not have any utilities. No gas. No electric. So likely some level of human involvement led to the fire.”
Despite their efforts, the fire burned for nearly seven hours, which destroyed the historic structure and damaged nearby vacant buildings.
“This is the neighborhood that I grew up in on the fire department. I remember this church 20 plus years ago being an active church so it’s a loss to the community,“ Mosby said.
Residents say they’ve seen people inside the church illegally over the years.
“I saw people in and out of here every night. Homeless people! Like, man, yall gotta get out of my church. I was scaring them, like, get away from church!” an anaymnous resident said.
Preservation advocates are calling for action to protect these historic buildings.
The Executive Director of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis said, “People breaking into historic buildings, scrapping them for materials and they accidentally burn them down. People just sort of shrug and they shouldn’t be upset about it. It’s the history of our community, our cultural heritage.”
New legislation aimed at increasing fines for unsecured vacant buildings is set to be discussed Thursday by the city’s Public Safety Committee.
Investigators are still working to determine the exact cause of the fire.