Gray smoke poured from a vacant former business in Downtown St. Joseph shortly after noon Wednesday.

The blaze involved the tallest of what had once been the Eshelman Music Co. buildings at Sixth and Edmond streets.

The 19th-century, brick, three-story building with a modern false front is owned by Ed and Linda Hood, said Steven Henrichson, a St. Joseph Fire Department inspector.

The Hoods are local entrepreneurs who own a number of Downtown buildings and older city homes and are currently vacationing at their summer home in Canada.

The empty building was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on the scene. The building had been boarded up and vandalized for years.

Battalion Chief Russell Moore, who knew the history of the block and the building, decreed that no firefighters would enter the building. There was no reason to risk firefighters’ lives, he said.

The fire was so large that all on-duty firefighters were called to the scene.

“I took one look out my window and made the decision to suspend emergency medical service,” said Fire Chief Jack Brown, of halting the service firefighters usually offer as first responders to medical emergencies. “We have to do the best we can with what we’ve got.”

Two reserve crews were called in to provide fire response service at Station 12 and the downtown station in case another fire broke out in St. Joseph.

By 1:15 p.m. Wednesday the flames in the rear of the three-story building leapt about 40 feet into the downtown skyline.

Firefighters poured as much as 4,000 gallons a minute on the blaze, Mr. Brown said.

The water created more black smoke that became a virtual wall in the alley that runs between Felix and Edmond streets, behind the burning structure.

Firefighters dragged hoses into the alley to pour water on the rear but were withdrawn because of safety issues. The back of the building began losing pieces of the roof, partially burned timbers, then bricks and flaming embers.

Fire crews sprayed water on neighboring buildings to keep the blaze contained.

For a time the north side of Edmond Street between Sixth Street and the alley became a pond as runoff from the canvas fire hoses picked up rocks, mud, charcoal and other ingredients, making a thick brown soup.

Firefighters largely had the blaze under control by 2 p.m. The last truck left about 7:30 p.m.

St. Joseph police and city street workers shut down traffic on Sixth and Edmond streets from Francis to Charles and from Fifth to Eighth streets.

Larry Buck, a real-estate broker who focuses on Downtown, said the building was in a state of disrepair and that he’s been trying to sell a connected building at the corner of Sixth and Edmond streets.

“It’s a derelict building and has been vacant for several years,” Mr. Brown said.

This building is a good example of why owners should be required to have working sprinkler systems, said Les Beattie, the fire prevention chief.

The city will do an emergency demolition in the next two days, Mr. Henrichson said.

Fire inspectors won’t have any report on the fire’s cause or the value of the building until sometime today.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall@npgco.com.