32 units damaged by Chesterfield Place Apartment Fire

A fire early Sunday morning at Chesterfield Place Apartments damaged more than 30 units and left two almost completely destroyed. 

Although the blaze itself was contained to the two most severely damaged units, others suffered minor smoke and water damaged, according to the Monarch Fire Protection District. The cause of the fire is still unknown. 

Monarch Fire Protection District Chief Tom Vineyard credited early warning and a quick response in preventing the spread an apartment fire Sunday morning. 

"There are firestops between some of the apartments, but it was the early notification and us getting in there quickly and knocking the fire down that prevented it from spreading," Vineyard said. 

Several individuals were treated for minor cases of smoke inhalation, but Vineyard said no one was transported to the hospital. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but KMOV reported that it may have started near the deck of one of the apartments. 

Fire crews were called in at approximately 6:25 a.m. to an apartment located in the rear of the Chesterfield Place Apartments complex at 14644 Rialto Drive. By 8 a.m. the fire was under control but had left at least two units completely gutted. One wall of the building had been torn off, exposing charred wood and wreckage inside.  

The response to the fire brought crews from the Metro West Fire Department and the Creve Couer Fire Department, filling the parking lot of Chesterfield Place Apartments with trucks and emergency response vehicles while police units set up outside the complex's entrance on Olive Boulevard.

"It went three alarms due to the nature of the fire and the time of the fire with a lot of people at home," Vineyard said.  

Pat Kosciulek is a resident of Chesterfield Place, which is located at 14644 Rialto Drive, and lives next to the units where the fire started. She was woken up that morning by the sound of a man banging on her door. 

"He was running up and down the hallways," Kosciulek said. She then entered the hallway and fought through a haze of smoke. "I came out and I've been out since."