A huge fire lit up the night in downtown St. Joseph Friday night, causing damage to at least four buildings. PIO Mike Neylon of the St. Joseph Fire Department says the initial fire was first reported at about 9:30pm at the Mitchell Hill Seed building at Sylvanie and Third Street.

Within just a few minutes, the fire spread to an adjacent building. Both were believed to be vacant. Both collapsed. At least two other buildings caught fire in the 300 block of North Third and the 300 block of North Fourth Street.

The historic Mitchell Hill building was a total loss. A brick skeleton of the original structure was all that remained standing by early Saturday morning.

Embers from the fire drifted more than a block and ignited the roofs on a pair of nearby buildings, including structures owned by American Electric and Hillyard. The fire department says the roofs of those buildings were damaged.

Neylon says there were no injuries reported. A huge contingent of firefighters included crews from Dekalb and Andrew counties, as well as Elwood and Rosecrans Airport joined the effort to put out the fires.

A number of streets in downtown St. Joseph remained blocked for the firefighting effort. During the firefighting effort, ramps to and from I-229 at 3rd Street were closed. Crews from the St. Joseph Fire Department said they would be on scene for several hours, well into Saturday morning, as they poured water on the remaining hot spots. Utility crews were working on damage to the electrical infrastructure in the area.