The fire at the Pioneer building appears to be out but streets are still closed off in downtown St. Joseph as officials continue to worry that a wall could collapse.

A week ago, the St. Joseph Fire Department responded to the area of Francis and 5th Street to the Pioneer building which was once the Tootle Opera House to battle flames shooting into the air. Days after, crews were still putting out hot spots and pouring water on the smoldering rubble. Chief Training Officer Mike Neylon said as of Monday morning the fire appears to be completely out.

“There was no smoke coming from anywhere I could see,” Neylon said. “The north wall was still standing and it doesn’t look particularly safe to me.”

He said it is possible it could still be smoldering under 20 feet of ruble. Wednesday was the last day crews were on scene full-time. Neylon said on Thanksgiving crews went up a couple of times to hit a hot spot.

“There are no fire crews on the scene. It’s fenced and blocked so as long as people don’t go behind that fence they should be alright,” Neylon said.

Francis street is still closed off. Neylon said the road will remain closed until an engineer deems the structure safe or the wall collapses.

“We can’t investigate it until we can get on the bricks so to speak and as long as that wall is dangerous we’re not going to send an investigator in there. Once something is done to remove the wall or stabilize it then we’ll get in there to try to find a cause,” Neylon said.