VIDEO/PHOTOS: Dozens of cars burned Saturday afternoon in Cahokia Heights at a tow lot fire, creating a large smoke plume visible from St. Louis. ‘We had the whole back lot of a tow company on fire,” Cahokia Fire Department Deputy Chief Jordan Simmons said.
“They were moving vehicles around with heavy equipment and struck the battery on a hybrid vehicle which caused the fire.” “A lot of smoke. You can actually see it from in the far distance, so I came down to see what was going on and just a lot of flames,” witness and former Kinloch fire deputy Se’an Whiteside said.
According to the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, the cars were on fire at Patterson Towing LLC at 499 N. 73rd St. At least 10 fire departments responded to the scene, including Midway, Camp Jackson, Cahokia, East St. Louis, Prairie Du Pont, Church Road, Alorton, Hollywood Heights, Millstadt and Villa Hills.
Deputy Chief Simmons said it took crews at least 8 hours to extinguish the flames. “The hydrant wasn’t enough to supply the amount of water that we needed at the time. We had to call in tankers, and in doing so, we’ve flown 60,000 gallons of water. About 20 trips, tankers in total,” Simmons said.
The owner of the tow lot said an electrical issue sparked the fire and damaged at least 100 cars. The owner told 5 On Your Side that the tow lot mainly contained junk cars being scrapped. Despite the fire, he plans on reopening the business soon.
KSDK-TV NBC 5 St. Louis
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