ST. LOUIS – An early-morning fire in the Dutchtown neighborhood leaves four families without homes.
Firefighters responded to the multifamily house on South Compton Avenue a little before 5:00 a.m. They say the fire started in the back of the building, but spread into the kitchens of two of the units.
The other two units have heavy water damage from the firefighting efforts. More than a dozen children and about nine adults had to evacuate the building.
Firefighters are helping them after they ran out of the house in their pajamas without any of their belongings.
“We have about 20 people who are displaced right now,” St. Louis Fire Department Captain Leon Whitener shared. “Crews are currently salvaging shoes and clothes and bringing it out to the residents as most residents ran out in their sleeping clothes. So, if you look behind me, you’ll see crews are bringing shoes out, bringing clothes out because we have people sitting outside right now just in shorts and no shirts.”
Everyone was able to escape safely. Firefighters are investigating the cause of the fire.
FOX 2 is updating this story with more information as it becomes available.