Missouri: Black smoke seen in St. Charles skies was from Ameristar backup generator

Monday, September 15, 2025 3:15 PM
Image aggregated from First Alert 4.
  • First Alert 4

Black smoke seen near the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles Saturday was caused by back-up generators starting at the casino.

According to the St. Charles Fire Department, black smoke that could be seen from Interstate 70 was caused by the initial start-up of Ameristar’s backup generators.

The casino had to activate the generators after a transformer fire caused an outage in the area, the department said.