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Died – 3/4/23
Handler – Michael Sevener
St. Louis rescue dog dies searching downtown’s condemned Railway Exchange Building
A fire department search and rescue dog has died searching downtown’s condemned Railway Exchange Building, the department announced Saturday. Balko, a Hanoverian hound from Germany, was 6 years old and had been with the department for more than three years, the department said. Firefighter Michael Sevener was Balko’s handler, from Engine House No. 1 in the Benton Park neighborhood. Balko is credited for nine finds, including the fatal fire at Bob Kramer’s Marionnettes in the Central West End and at the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville that collapsed and killed six workers after a tornado struck the building. “Please keep a prayerful thought out for Balko’s family,” the department wrote in a social media post. City officials condemned the Railway Exchange in January, sending crews to board up the historic 21-story, 1.2 million-square-foot building, which occupies an entire city block at 615 Olive Street, in the heart of St. Louis’ central business district.The 110-year-old building was once Famous-Barr’s flagship store, but has languished for nearly a decade after Macy’s left and developers failed to get plans off the ground. A water main rupture in 2017 further damaged the building while millions of dollars of unpaid bonds stacked up. In recent months, police have found homeless people in the building. More information on Balko’s death was not immediately available.
