Residents Displaced as Fire in Lincoln Park Burns Building

Firefighters did their best to battle out-of-control flames during the city's worst winter storm so far this season. This, as the 12 displaced residents try to figure out what's next. 

DULUTH, Minn. – Firefighters did their best to battle out-of-control flames during the city’s worst winter storm so far this season. This, as the 12 displaced residents try to figure out what’s next.

The night before Christmas Eve is supposed to be a time where you feel safe in your home and feel the joy of being with loved ones. However, for 12 people in Lincoln Park, this was not the case as a fire came through their home, destroying everything in its path.

Flames broke out around 8:30 Wednesday night during the middle of a blizzard in this apartment building on 28th Avenue West in Lincoln Park and while no fire is ever good, the time of year makes this tragedy even worse.

“Obviously these fires like this that displace people are very hard any time during the year, but this is probably the hardest time,” said Dennis Edwards, the assistant fire chief at the Duluth Fire Department. “And I just want to say we all from the Duluth Fire Department feel so bad for the three family groups that were living in this building and now have lost probably nearly everything they own.”

Assistant Fire Chief Dennis Edwards says this fire spread quickly through the 112-year-old building along with blizzard conditions outside.

“The wind conditions, that definitely had an effect on the fire,” said Edwards. “At the time, we had about zero degrees, we had 20 to 30 mile per hour winds, and that can create an advancement of the fire with a wind-driven fire.”

Eva Love lives down the street and could see flames from her porch. She says the firefighters should be applauded for their efforts to keep the fire from spreading to nearby homes.

“I looked over and I’m telling you, I’ve never seen a fire with the flames coming so high out of the building and the wind was taking those flames and I thought, at one point, maybe the whole block would go up,” said Love.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. Assistant Fire Chief Edwards says local charities have stepped in to help the 12 people displaced in this fire by providing everybody with a night’s stay in a hotel among other help as they deal with the trauma of losing everything.