Fire Destroys Four Downtown Buildings in St. Peter

(THANKS TO MATT ROBINSON FOR THE PHOTOS)

Four buildings on the south side of Main Street in downtown St. Peter were destroyed in an early Sunday morning fire.

Main Street is also Illinois Route 185 through St. Peter. The fire was first reported around 1am Sunday.

Kinmundy-Alma Fire Chief Kevin Day says at least four businesses were destroyed by the fire, including plumbing and sign businesses. No injuries were reported.

The buildings that were destroyed were two-story structures that had little space between them. 

More than 1,300 Ameren Illinois customers were without power in St. Peter, Kinmundy, Farina, Alma, Laclede, Edgewood and Iola. The outages were primarily due to a main feeder line that went down in St. Peter. All but 122 customers had service restored within an hour. 

Both the St. Peter Fire Station and the Kinmundy Community Center were opened as shelters, and Red Cross was assisting with a warming shelter at the St. Peter Lutheran Church and food was made available through St. Peter Lutheran School.

St. Peter firefighters were assisted by fire companies from Vandalia, Farina, Kinmundy-Alma, Patoka, Brownstown and St. Elmo. Firefighters were hampered by strong winds, freezing water and eventually a lack of water. Firefighters then began hauling water from other sources to the fire scene. The St. Peter water system was under a boil order due to the drop in water pressure.