ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Fire Department started creating a vacant building database, so firefighters know more about potentially dangerous buildings before they arrive at a call.
“When we enter, we enter under circumstance of fire and smoke,” Captain Leon Whitener said. “We can't look at the floor or look at the integrity of the building or know the perils inside."
Fire crews will be asked to spend at least one hour a day surveying vacant buildings and putting them into three categories.
- Don’t enter under any circumstance.
- ONLY enter to save a life
- Safe to enter
The fire department said there are 10,000 vacant buildings in St. Louis. Nine fire companies started surveying in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood. The same area where Firefighter Benjamin Polson lost his life when the roof of a burning vacant building fell on him in January.
“We'll risk a lot to save a lot,” Whitener said. “We will risk little to save a little if a building is compromised to where a collapse is imminent, we aren't going in."
Whitener said determining if someone is inside a vacant building is always a tough call in the field.
“If a fire starts, it means someone trying to stay warm or cook inside,” Whitener said. “When we show up to a burning building our assumption is someone is inside."
Crews in the city started work on the database in April, and are tasked to spend at least one hour a day on the database until it is complete.