Shelter in Place issued for portions of Metro East due to hazardous material fire

SAUGET, Ill. (First Alert 4) - The St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency issued a shelter-in-place order Wednesday morning because of a fire involving hazardous materials.

Officials said multiple crews were working a fire on Sauget Industrial Drive at ContainerPort Group St. Louis just before 3 a.m.

The shelter-in-place has been issued for the area south of Missouri Avenue, between South 50th Street and South 19th Street, in Sauget, Cahokia Heights and East St. Louis, extending to just north of the St. Louis Downtown Airport.

Anyone in those areas was told to remain inside, close all windows and not use any system that brings outside air into a home or business.

St. Clair County EMA told First Alert 4 that the chemical involved is trichloroisocyanuric acid, which can cause skin irritation upon direct contact.

While the fire is out, crews are still working to contain the chemical plume.

“We’ve requested about five tandem loads of sand to come in to put a berm up to isolate and mitigate the water runoff,” said Herb Simmons with St. Clair County EMA. “We’re waiting for IDOT and our Sinclair County Highway Department to try to get us to sand here for that.”

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story, and updates will be made to this story when available.