Fire destroys apartment building near U of M campus

Updated: 6:05 p.m.

More than two dozen tenants were displaced after fire broke out in an apartment building near the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus on Saturday.

The building at the intersection of University Avenue and 10th Avenue Southeast was evacuated and no one inside was injured, according to Melanie Rucker, assistant chief of administration for the Minneapolis Fire Department.

In all, 31 tenants were displaced and the building was deemed uninhabitable, Rucker said.

There was no threat to neighboring homes, though the roof has partially collapsed. Rucker said the fire started just before noon in a dumpster outside the building and extended to the attic through trash chutes.

"There are no fire stops, we believe, in the attic space that usually help contain it from traveling the whole building," she said.

The Red Cross offered assistance to those who were displaced, but it was not needed.

University Avenue between 10th and 11th Avenues was closed to traffic, causing bus service to be disrupted, but it was reopened Saturday afternoon.

The exact cause of the fire is under investigation.

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