Area firefighters battled a blaze high up in the air at a cement plant south of Festus on June 12.
Capt. Zach Smallegan, fire marshal for Jefferson R-7 Fire Protection District, said the district responded to a call at about 7:50 p.m. for an industrial structure fire at Buzzi Unicem, 1000 River Cement Road.
“Units arrived on scene and found heavy smoke showing from the end of a belt system,” Smallegan said. “It’s a belt system that burned. It feeds material into the preheat tower.
“Crews deployed hundreds of feet of hose line to reach the fire from the catwalk and begin the fire attack. Due to the fire occurring in an industrial high-rise more than 200 feet above ground, second and, later, third alarms were requested to support the labor-intensive firefighting operations and ensure adequate firefighter rotation.”
He said no injuries were reported by firefighters during the incident. The fire was brought under control at 10:35 p.m. and firefighters remained on scene until about 1 a.m. June 13, he said.
He said the cause of the fire has not been determined, but it is not considered suspicious.
The fire considerably damaged the belt, Smallegan said.
“They’re able to still operate, but that belt system needs to be repaired,” he said.
Assisting Jefferson R-7 were the Festus, Crystal City, Herculaneum and De Soto fire departments and the Hematite, Dunklin, Mapaville, Antonia, Rock Community, De Soto Rural, Hillsboro, Saline Valley, Goldman and Cedar Hill fire districts, as well as the Joachim Plattin Ambulance District.
Smallegan said the number of firefighting entities called for assistance was not due to a need for water, but because of the conditions.
“It’s very hot in that tower,” he said.