The High Ridge Aldi grocery store is temporarily closed following a fire late Tuesday, Feb. 11, that was reportedly caused by an electrical problem near drink coolers at the front of the store. High Ridge Fire Protection District crews were dispatched to the store, 1025 Crossroads Place, at 10:34 p.m., Chief John Barton said.
The first crew reported seeing fire near the cash register area at the front of the store.
“Crews began fire attack and had the fire extinguished by 10:41 p.m.,” Barton said. “We continued to try and clear the building of residual smoke. The Aldi store, as well as the neighboring 1023 Crossroads Place (Shop ‘n Save), had a lot of smoke that we were unable to clear because of the size of the buildings.”
High Ridge Fire requested the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS), which provides fire protection districts across Missouri and Illinois with emergency resources, to use Fairview Fire Department’s specialized mobile ventilation unit, from Fairview Heights, Ill. Barton described the unit as a large fan mounted on the back of a truck.
“(The truck) can move an estimated 200,000 cubic feet of air per minute,” he said. “Once the smoke was cleared, (High Ridge’s) fire marshal investigated and determined the fire to be accidental.”
Barton said no injuries were reported as a result of the fire.
Due to the amount of smoke, everything in the store will most likely need to be discarded and restocked as a result of the fire, Barton said.
“The fire damage was limited to two drink coolers and maybe some furnishing damaged near the cash registers,” he said. “The building has fire sprinklers, and we believe that the sprinkler that activated kept the fire from spreading to any other areas of the store.”
High Ridge Fire remained on the scene until 1:47 a.m.
He said he believes the store plans to reopen by Saturday, Feb. 15.
High Ridge Fire was assisted by the North Jefferson Ambulance District, Fenton Fire Protection District and the Fairview Fire Department.