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Early morning fire causes $80,000 in damage to Duluth home

[Duluth, MN] Just after 7:00 a.m. this morning, the Duluth Fire Department responded to the report pf a structure fire on the 700 block of West 4^th Street. On arrival, crews saw heavy smoke from the rear of the two-story single-family home.

Crews immediately entered to conduct a primary search and confirmed that the building was unoccupied. The home owners had been able to evacuate just before crews arrived on scene. Crews reported heavy fire above the ceiling of an addition to the rear of the main level of the home. Due to limitations reaching the fire, the initial fire attack began from the exterior. The vented flames extended outside to the eaves, threatening the attic space above the second level.

Two holes were cut in the roof above the second level to ventilate heat and to help extinguish the fire. Crews laid additional lines to help extinguish the fire from the interior.

Once the fire was out, crews continued to put out hot spots until everything had been extinguished.

Due to the amount of water applied to control the fire, there is extensive water damage in the home. Damage to the structure and contents are estimated at $80,000.

No one was injured as a result of the fire. The building is saved, but not habitable at this time.

Crews from Headquarters, Lincoln Park, and Spirit Valley responded to the fire.

The cause of the fire was determined to be an electrical heating component. No additional information is available at this time.

While crews were working to control the fire, several vehicles ran over hose lines. This action put several holes in a water supply line, and is very dangerous for firefighters. Loss of water supply on a fire scene can make a difficult operation, much more dangerous.

Duluth Fire Assistant Chief Brent Consie witnessed someone driving over a water supply hose this morning and said, “It is a frustrating act to witness. Water pressure in a 4-inch yellow supply line contains pressure of over 100psi. That hose from the hydrant to the pumper supplies the water firefighters need to control the fire and to keep other buildings from catching fire. A break in that hose line will cause a water disruption of 5 minutes or more. Depending on our operation, this may not be enough time to evacuate our crews. In addition, should someone drive over a smaller attack line and puncture that, fire crews would experience an immediate loss of water and would be put in grave danger. The issue of catastrophic water loss can be prevented simply by never driving over a hose line on a fire scene.”

The Duluth Fire Department would like to remind the public that if they come upon an emergency scene with emergency vehicles and deployed hose lines to please detour around the area. In today’s case, one vehicle not only drove over the hose line, but also drove around two DPD squad cars to continue on their way. Please find a different route to your destination rather than interfering with an active scene. The Duluth Fire Department thanks you for listening and asks that you remind others of the dangers of this action.

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