Dozens displaced after 3-story fire in Dinkytown
Around 11:45 a.m. Saturday morning, Matthew Freed had no idea he’d be taking a final look at his college apartment.
“I didn’t really understand the severity of it until I got outside and kind of looked right in between the alley and I saw fire spraying from the roof,” Freed, U of M senior, said.
Right off 1015 University Ave. SE, flames poured out of the building and smoke billowed into the sky.
The Minneapolis Fire Department was on scene at the three-story University of Minnesota housing unit for several hours putting it out.
Officials say the fire happened at 1 p.m., with fire crews reporting having “several lines laid” and aerial ladder water towers to put out the fire.
All residents were reported to be out of the building, according to fire officials.
“I think everything in our rooms was gone,” Luke Yelich, U of M student junior, said. “It’s sad. There’s a lot of personal stuff in there.”
Half of the roof was burned off where Yelich and Andrew Racine lived.
“I was like wow that’s all our stuff, all of the memories we had in that apartment too,” Racine, U of M student junior, said.
Minneapolis fire officials said it all started with a dumpster fire. The flames spread onto the building and traveled quickly to the top floor.
“The fire started building and then going up the trash chutes and into the building and spreading to the attic space of the building,” Melanie Rucker, Minneapolis Fire Department assistant chief, said.
MFD said the building is a total loss and it’s too dangerous for the students to come back in.
Now the U of M students and at least 30 other tenants are stuck with finding somewhere else to live months before the start of the school year.
“You can’t replace people, but you can replace things. Thankfully, that was a blessing that everyone was able to be okay,” Freed said.
Some students are fundraising to replace their items after losing all their belongings in the fire.
Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire.