By Christopher Snowbeck
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
BURNSVILLE, Minn. — A fire early Saturday morning in Burnsville forced the evacuation of about 70 apartments and left one firefighter injured.
Investigators don’t yet know the cause of the fire, said Burnsville Fire Marshal Lee LaTourelle. But flames destroyed four apartment units and adjacent balconies at Raven Hill Apartments in the 13000 block of Harriet Avenue South.
Paramedics treated two residents at the scene. The injured firefighter “suffered a back and hip injury from something collapsing on him,” LaTourelle said. “He’s in the hospital and will be in there for a day or two more.”
Firefighters were called to the blaze at 12:38 a.m. They knocked down the flames in about 30 minutes, LaTourelle said, but it took a while to get into position because the fire was on the rear of the building.
Much of the damage was confined to one wing of the three-story, L-shape structure, LaTourelle said. The first floor was barely affected, and some second-floor tenants were able to return home Saturday, he said.
But many apartments on the third floor weren’t accessible. LaTourelle estimated that one-third to half of residents from the wing where the fire was concentrated were homeless Saturday night.
The American Red Cross was providing food and clothing Saturday night for just one family affected by the fire, said Lynette Nyman, a spokeswoman for the Twin Cities chapter of the nonprofit group. Dislocated residents found housing with friends and family or through the property-management company that operates the apartment building, Nyman said.
Repair estimates range from $500,000 to $600,000, LaTourelle said.
In 2007, investigators determined that careless smoking started a fire at Raven Hill that caused about $1.5 million in structural damage and an additional $800,000 in damage to personal property.
Raven Hill’s management has been active in trying to prevent smoking-related fires, LaTourelle added. The company bought 1,200 fire-safe ashtrays to distribute to residents -- the same sort of ashtrays LaTourelle distributed to many other multifamily structures in Burnsville as part of a coordinated campaign.
In 2010, seven fires on decks in multifamily structures in Burnsville were caused by smoking, LaTourelle said. Whether smoking on decks was a factor in Saturday’s fire is “still undetermined at this point,” LaTourelle said.
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