Crews extinguish fire at boarded-up Minneapolis apartment building near I-35W
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Updated: April 5, 7:15 a.m.
Minneapolis fire crews extinguished a fire at a boarded-up apartment building just south of downtown Thursday, at least eight hours after the initial call.
While the building at the corner of E. 19th Street and S. Fifth Avenue — adjacent to Interstate 35W — was supposed to be vacant, fire officials said there were reports people had been inside when the fire was reported late Wednesday.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. Minneapolis Deputy Fire Chief Staffan Swanson said crews saw about 15 people run out of the building as they arrived on the scene. He said they did not stop to talk to firefighters who were heading inside.
“[Fire crews] made a decision to try and make an interior attack,” Swanson said. “They went through some doors that had already been forced by squatters, and people that were not supposed to be in the building were pouring out the front door.”
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The building had been the scene of at least one previous fire, last November.
In the latest fire, authorities said they found flames visible from the second and third floors of the building at 1829 S. Fifth Ave. when they arrived late Wednesday.
Initial responders went inside to battle the fire, but were forced to switch tactics and fight it from outside when the fourth floor collapsed. Shortly after 1 a.m., fire officials reported the roof of the building had partially collapsed.
The building — known as Dundry House — had previously been used for years as transitional housing for people who had been homeless or incarcerated. Finance and Commerce reported that its owner, the nonprofit Hope Community, closed the 25-unit building last summer amid increased maintenance and insurance costs.
In a statement, Hope Community’s Director of Development and Impact Betsy Sohn said the issues at the building started before the organization closed it down.
“We have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in security at the Dundry building, but providing broad public safety services is unsustainable for a community organization,” Sohn said. “Last summer we worked with the residents to find other housing after a series of escalating vandalism incidents.”
Hope Community was making plans to demolish the building. Sohn said the building has been monitored since closing down in June, and the boards were re-secured on Tuesday.
“This fire and other similar incidents across the metro are evidence that our housing system is not meeting the needs of all of our neighbors,” Sohn said.
Marti Maltby is the executive director of Peace House Community, a community center serving mostly unhoused people around the corner from Dundry House. He also chairs the local neighborhood council. He said he’s safety concerns around Dundry House and around the neighborhood recently.
“There’s just been so much vandalism and things like that,” Maltby said. “It’s really unfortunate.”
The building was the scene of a fire on Nov. 24. Crews responded to reports of smoke coming from the boarded-up building and extinguished a fire on the third floor.
At that time, the fire department said there were signs the building had been tampered with and that people may have been living inside — but a search of the structure didn’t locate anyone.