The Minneapolis Fire Department says a large fire has destroyed a homeless encampment and caused eight people living inside a nearby home to become displaced after flames spread late Tuesday night.

The fire department said the fire at the encampment, located on the 2400 block of 15th Avenue South, was called in around 10:25 p.m.

When they arrived, crews reported seeing several tents on fire, propane tanks exploding and flames spreading to a home located at 2417 15th Avenue S.

Fire crews said propane tanks continued to explode as they attempted to extinguish the fire at the encampment and building. It took the department about 45 minutes to bring the fire under control.

It was a somber, chaotic scene.

“I guess there was a fire in one of the yurts, and you have propane tanks that exploded,”  Delilah, the mother of an encampment resident, explained.

She told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she was looking for her adult son, one of 30 people who lived there.

“They said everything went up in flames right away,” Delilah noted. “They couldn’t save anything.”

Following an overhaul, the fire department determined that everyone in the encampment had been accounted for, and all the residents of the burning building were able to get out of the building.

The fire was so hot the department said it caused a second building, located at 2411 15th Avenue South, to have its siding melt – but it hadn’t caught fire.

However, the eight adults who had been living at the burned building were displaced. Meanwhile the other residents of the second building were allowed to remain at their homes.

“It’s just a bad situation,” declared Melquiades Hernandez. “It’s just horrible.”

Hernandez and his family were forced to evacuate from their burning house, which he now says is a total loss.

He tells us he’s repeatedly tried to contact the city about the encampment.

“People trying to avoid it,” Hernandez says. “But unfortunately, no one hears us. It’s going to keep on happening, and no one does anything.”

Other neighbors also shared their frustration.

“It’s just not safe, there’s kids in the neighborhood,” says a woman who didn’t want to give her name. “They’re going around in people’s yards, stealing stuff out of people’s yards. They’re using drugs, they leave the needles everywhere.”

Alex Puma says the fire melted the siding on his house and left several broken windows.

He’s also worried about his kids.

“We have younger brothers and sisters at home and they’re in shock and I’m more scared for them to see a fire like this,” Puma says.

Meanwhile, Involve MN, a non-profit food center, say its staffers were contacted by Minneapolis Police.

The group is teaming up with MPD and Avivo, to find housing solutions for about twenty-one encampment residents.  

“We got people that are cold, they’re hungry, they were displaced in this fire,” explains Grant Snyder, the Vice President of Operations for Involve MN. “Right now, people are looking for an opportunity to move on from this, not just find a place to go, where are we going to sleep tonight, but how do we replace all the stuff that was lost?”

Asked for comment, the city issued a statement, which said in part:

“The City of Minneapolis’ Homelessness Response Team is on-site and is working alongside the Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County, and other service providers to offer unsheltered individuals the necessary resources, services, and shelter. This time of year is a dangerous one as our neighbors use different methods to try and keep warm. Our HRTs work tirelessly in this delicate season to support people who need it and make meaningful connections to other resources. Our Minneapolis neighbors — unsheltered or otherwise, deserve better.”  

Council member Jason Chavez says he’s located an Airbnb for Hernandez’s family.

But a source tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the majority of people in the encampment have moved to another encampment.

Snyder says Involve MN is doing what it can to help.

“Coats are lost, clothing’s damaged, places where they would sleep, their house or their tent or whatever,“ he explains. “People are trying to figure out what’s the next step here.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. No one was injured.