Duluth Fire Crews Extinguish Third Fire at Condemned Esmond Building this Winter
According to the Fire Chief, no one was found inside the building when crews arrived on-scene, though they have had reports of individuals inside seeking warmth recently.
DULUTH, Minn.- A massive fire took over the former Seaway Hotel now known as the condemned Esmond Building in the Lincoln Park Craft District Monday, challenging firefighters with its fast spread in sub-arctic temperatures.
Crews responded to the fire around 7:30 Monday morning.
Just minutes later, three crews were pulled out of the building due to unsafe conditions and fire rapidly spreading inside.
The firefight then went into defense mode. The roof of the decades-old building collapsed around 8:30.
The intense flames kept firefighters from getting to the area where it started to find out an immediate cause.
Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj said the building, currently owned by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA). The Executive Director of which, Jill Keppers, said they have taken measures to secure the building.
“They’ve taken numerous efforts on numerous occasions to board it and to re-board it we made sure that the fire escape was secure off the ground but people were resilient they get in,” Krizaj said. “We know there were no utilities to the building it couldn’t have been an electrical fire.”
According to the Fire Chief, no one was found inside the building when crews arrived on-scene, though they have had reports of individuals inside seeking warmth recently.
“Trying to stay warm we understand it’s brutal. It’s brutal out there it’s dangerous out there but we really want the community to look for safer resources that are available,” said the Chief.
This comes after the Esmond building caught fire on December 23rd and again last week.
Officials say both times the fire was started by squatters inside. But that’s not confirmed for this big blaze.
Interesting to note, firefighters used the Esmond Building for training this past summer.
The chief says that training did aid in the response, but the fire was too big for it to be any real advantage.
“We were certainly familiar with the building we were definitely familiar with the building the layout, the floors how things worked in the entry, Krizaj said. “I think it would have helped a little bit more if we would have been able to do an interior attack.”
“The fact that the fire was so far advanced after we got there most of our firefighting was in that defensive mode from the exterior,” he said.
At one point Chief Krizaj called his counterpart in Superior Fire Chief Scott Gordon for mutual aid.
Gordon provided a 100-foot tower aerial apparatus to help fight the flames.
The condemned building was approved by the City to be demolished. According to Keppers, it was in talks of being demolished as soon as next week.
