An early-morning fire on Monday, Feb. 6, severely damaged an old, unoccupied, one-story motel in the 100 block of Beffa Street in Festus. No injuries were reported, Festus Fire Chief Jeff Broombaugh said.
“We got a call at 3:17 a.m.,” he said. “It was an old motel building. It’s used for storage now. No one was in there. It was (completely) under control by 5:18 a.m. It was probably considered under control earlier, but it got up in the attic.”
Firefighters remained on the scene until 6:20 a.m., Broombaugh said.
He said Monday that the cause was not yet known.
“They think it started in the back of the building,” Broombaugh said.
He said the Crystal City and Herculaneum fire departments and the Jefferson R-7, Hematite, Dunklin, Mapaville, Antonia, De Soto Rural and Hillsboro fire protection districts helped with the call. The Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District also responded to the scene.
Broombaugh said all the help was needed since the fire spread throughout the building.
“It went to a second alarm,” Broombaugh said. “When they first got there, they thought they’d knocked it down, but it spread throughout the attic. The damage was significant.”