Restrooms in the St. Anthony of Padua Church’s school building in High Ridge were destroyed in a late-night fire Dec. 23.
High Ridge Fire Protection District Chief John Barton said the fire likely originated in an exhaust fan in one of the restrooms.
“It’s believed to have originated in an exhaust fan in the ceiling of a bathroom on the lower level,” he said. “We’re confident that’s the point of origin. The building had not been used for a day or two so it’s possible the exhaust fan had been left on.”
Jefferson County 911 Dispatch received a call from a company that monitors the church’s fire alarms at 10:11 p.m. Barton said his crews arrived on the scene at 10:14 p.m.
“The initial call was for a fire alarm sounding,” he said. “When the first truck arrived on the scene, they had a visible fire inside through the window and it was coming out on the side of the building through some ductwork.”
Barton said the fire was extinguished quickly. The fire damaged the ceiling above the exhaust and the adjoining auditorium wall. He said the auditorium has smoke damage and the restrooms will need to be rebuilt. The rest of the school building remained unaffected.
Barton said the monitored fire alarm allowed High Ridge Fire to react quickly.
“It’s hard to tell how long it would take before somebody would have noticed it, but because they had a monitored system and we were just down the road, we were able to react quickly,” Barton said.
Barton said no one was inside the building at the time of the fire.
According to the church’s website, the building holds the church’s Parish School of Religion classes and preschool services. The church is located at 3009 High Ridge Blvd.
Barton said the fire was under control by 10:44 p.m. According to the church’s Facebook page, the fire did not interfere with services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Fenton, Eureka, Valley Park, Saline Valley and Rock Community fire protection districts assisted. North Jefferson County Ambulance District was also on the scene.