Fire Rips Through Historic Waterville Building
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Fire crews responded to a multi-unit structure fire in downtown Waterville, Minn. Thursday morning.
According to Waterville Fire Chief Chris Meskan, the structure affected is the Old Rogers Building, located on 128 3rd Street South.
The building was built by the city's founder, L.Z. Rogers, in 1891, and is home to multiple businesses and apartments.
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Four apartments housed in the building have been destroyed, as well as two businesses: Barrels of Hope and Cutting Connection.
Chief Meskan says the fire appears to have originated in an outside courtyard between the Rogers Building and the apartments, but the fire's cause is still unknown at this time.
No one was injured and everyone was able to escape. Local Red Cross volunteers are in town to help the eight people displaced by the fire.
The Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office says the fire is pretty much contained, and eight cities assisted in the effort to extinguish the blaze.
Authorities are determining the integrity of some of the businesses, and how and if they will need to be torn down.
Chief Meskan says the last time there was a fire of this magnitude on Main Street was in 1977.