8 displaced, none hurt when south Minneapolis encampment fire spreads to home
MINNEAPOLIS — A homeless encampment fire in south Minneapolis spread to a nearby home Tuesday night, displacing several people.
The Minneapolis Fire Department says multiple propane tanks used by encampment residents to keep warm exploded just before 10:30 p.m. on the 2400 block of 15th Avenue South, causing several tents to erupt in flames.
The fire then spread to a nearby home and also melted siding on another residence.
Officials say it took crews about 45 minutes to get the fire under control. No one was hurt, and the Red Cross is assisting eight people who lived in the home that caught fire. Encampment residents say everyone was accounted for.
Neighbors tell WCCO they had been calling the city for months to do something about the encampment, which was established this summer and has had dozens of residents.
"Look at this house. It put that house in danger. Those people could have been sleeping and not known what was going on," a neighbor told WCCO.
The neighborhood is also near the epicenter of a shooting spree in late September that left two men dead and two others injured, leading Mayor Jacob Frey to ramp up efforts to close all encampments in the city.
Homeless advocate Naomi Wilson says people have to do whatever they can to keep warm amid the brutally cold conditions, and puts much of the blame on a lack of shelter space.
"People are trying not to die," Wilson said. "That's the reality of living in Minnesota is that our winters are cold and bitter and people are just trying to stay warm."
Wilson said that while warming centers can save lives, the issue is there aren't any that are open overnight.
Neighbors say they see the issue as a city that should have stepped in sooner.
"It makes you feel worthless, like you're nothing, you know? You're nothing. You're just a taxpayer and a homeowner, that's it," said the neighbor.
The fire is still under investigation.