Crews extinguish flames at St. Paul business hours after fire across the street

Two fires in St. Paul are under investigation after they damaged two businesses across the street from each other on the same day.

The St. Paul Fire Department says crews responded to a business on the corner of Jenks Avenue East and Arcade Street at around 6:15 a.m. and put that fire out, although the business — 52 Market & Trading — sustained significant damage.

Then, at around 1:25 p.m., crews were called to the same intersection on a report of another fire.

St. Paul Deputy Fire Chief Roy Mokosso told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crews thought the fire at 52 Market & Trading may have rekindled. However, when they arrived, they saw that the business across Jenks Avenue, Eastside Checkerboard Pizza, was the one on fire.

Crews found smoke and flames on both the first and second floors and were able to extinguish those to save the building, Mokosso said.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt in either fire.

Mokosso said the proximity of the fires does make them suspicious but investigators will go through their normal process to determine if they are possibly related.