String of warehouse fires in St. Louis raises concerns

ST. LOUIS – In the early morning hours of Feb. 3, a fire destroyed a warehouse that occupied an entire block in St. Louis. It took firefighters nearly four days to completely extinguish the flames.

FOX 2 has obtained evidence of when the fire started, which suggests that the fire was no accident.

Surveillance video shows a train passing the historic Shapleigh Hardware building that morning. The building appeared dark and empty, per usual. There is no other activity for another half hour, when a large fireball erupts on the floor.

Then, while firefighters are on the scene with trucks deployed, an even larger fireball explodes from the building’s core.

“It does definitely raise some eyebrows,” St. Louis Alderwoman Ward 8, Cara Spencer, said.

The building is in her ward. She’s been collecting building memorabilia since the fire, including old catalog ads featuring Shapleigh products and its famous ‘diamond’ trademark.

“(Painted) on the west side of the building was a giant diamond with (the letters) ‘D-E’, that stood for Diamond Edge. It was their branding on the high quality of products they provided,” Spencer said. “I go by this building often. It was one of the most structurally sound buildings just north of downtown. It was absolutely stunning and really represented, I think, a pretty big opportunity for revitalizing that near/north downtown. We’re seeing an enormous amount of our built environment go up in smoke.”

Just a few blocks away, there was another massive warehouse fire in May. Several months before that one, fires destroyed two more warehouses nearby, just hours apart.

The developers that own two of the destroyed warehouses, including the Shapleigh Hardware building, say there was nothing explosive inside the structures.

“Both our bomb and arson units, as well as the ATF, are investigating…our investigators do have the videos,” a St. Louis Police spokesman said via email. “While investigators have not ruled out this fire potentially being criminal in nature, there is no evidence indicating it is criminal in nature at this time. Whether or not this fire may be related to any other fires is also part of the ongoing investigation.”

“I really loved this building. It was a beautiful tribute to the work we were doing here in St. Louis back 100 years ago,” Spencer said. “A building like that wouldn’t just explode into fire for no apparent reason. This is really, really alarming. I would like to see a serious look into the causes of these fires.”

Police ask that anyone with information call ATF or St. Louis Police Bomb & Arson at 314-444-5701.

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