Festus Fire responded to a downed power line call this afternoon, May 13, at a Festus restaurant that led to reports of electrical outages at some other nearby establishments.
The department received a call about 2:50 p.m. on the fire outside Petit Paree Restaurant & Lounge, 228 E. Main St., said engineer Cody Charleville.
He said the downed power line led to blown fuses and other problems inside the building, but there were no flames when firefighters arrived.
“The first-arriving crew found charring inside the building and smoke,” he said. “There were no active flames. We investigated the building for any further hazards and also investigated the surrounding buildings and found no further hazards.”
He said no injuries were reported. He said most of the firefighters left the scene by around 4 p.m., but some remained to investigate.
Charleville said the business will need to address electrical problems that arose in the incident, but he said he does not believe a great deal needs to be repaired.
“I don’t believe this will be a long-time closure,” he said.
Petit Paree at about 4:35 p.m. posted on Facebook, “Due to Ameren UE downed wire and issues we are currently closed until further notice; sorry for any inconvenience.”
The Festus Public Library, 400 W. Main St., posted at 3:45 p.m. on Facebook it was closing early due to a power outage “due to a fire downtown.”
Employees of Main & Mill Brewing Company, 240 E. Main St., a few doors down from Petit Paree, said their electricity blinked, but it did not shut down for long, and they remained open for business.
Charleville said the power went out at the Festus Fire station, 212 N. Mill St., but the firehouse has electrical generators.
Assisting at the fire were the Herculaneum and Crystal City departments and Dunklin, Hematite, Jefferson R-7 and Mapaville districts, as well as Joachim-Plattin Ambulance.