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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Duluth - Fire Department
602 West Second Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802
218-730-4400 •www.duluthmn.gov
For more information contact Kelli Latuska,
Public Information Officer at 218-730-5309
DATE: 6/1/2019
SUBJECT: Structure Fire- City of Duluth
BY: Assistant Fire Chief, Brent Consie

NATURE OF INCIDENT: Structure Fire
CASE NO.: 19-5402
INCIDENT DATE: 6/1/2019
INCIDENT TIME: 1546
INCIDENT LOCATION: 1600 Miller Trunk Hwy

At 3:46 PM on Saturday June 1st, the Duluth Fire Department responded to a report of smoke at the JC Penney department store in the Miller Hill Mall.

The first arriving Fire Company found the store evacuated and fire alarms sounding. Store staff directed fire crews to a reported smell of smoke in the salon area on the second floor. Fire Department members isolated the source of the smoke and opened a wall behind a dryer in the salon area. The members found a small fire that had started as a result of a segment disconnection in the metal dryer vent.

The incidental lint build-up behind the wall and heat source from the dryer in use was the cause of fire. The members extinguished the fire, isolated the cause and removed the smoke from the building. 

Store staff and customers were allowed back into the building at 4:44 PM. The salon is to remain closed for the remainder of the day. 

Damage is estimated to be $2500 (Twenty-Five Hundred Dollars) and is due to necessary repairs to the wall and dryer vent.

There were no civillian or Fire Department Member injuries.

Duluth Fire Companies from Downtown, Duluth Heights, and Spirit Valley responded to the incident.