Large fire destroys Minneapolis encampment

A large fire destroyed an encampment in south Minneapolis on Monday afternoon, causing propane tanks to explode and sending a plume of smoke above the city.

There were no reports of injuries.

The fire was near the intersection of 14th Avenue South and East 29th Street. The Minneapolis Fire Department responded just after 2 p.m. and found flames consuming all the encampment’s tents and yurts, as well as propane tanks exploding, according to a fire department news release.

Minneapolis police assisted in evacuating residents. According to the fire department, about 20 people remained in the area when authorities cleared the encampment, but first responders weren’t sure exactly how many residents lived in the encampment.

Fire crews laid lines and sprayed water to put out the fire and cool down remaining propane tanks. Once the fire was mostly extinguished, crews went into the encampment and doused remaining hot spots.

Nearby resident Chris Lomheim saw the smoke and heard a loud noise.

“An explosion rocked our building — that was two and a half blocks away — and our parrot freaked out and started flying around,” Lomheim said. “The explosion shook the building.”

According to the fire department, there was a second, unrelated fire at an encampment blocks away Monday. Crews responded around 1:45 p.m. to an encampment at the intersection of Lake Street and Columbus Avenue. They found a small fire near a propane tank, which was venting pressure with the potential to rupture or explode. Fire crews put out the fire and cooled off the propane tank; there were no injuries reported and the fire did not spread.

The fires are not the first at Minneapolis homeless encampments. Last month, a fire on the 2400 block of 15th Avenue South spread to a neighboring home. Crews arrived to find several tents in the encampment fully engulfed in flames and propane tanks exploding, as well as a neighboring home that had caught fire.

And almost a year ago, Camp Nenookaasi caught fire on the 1100 block of East 28th Street. The fire sent a thick plume of dark smoke into the sky over south Minneapolis and left charred debris spread across the site that had been home to Camp Nenookaasi for about a month. The encampment relocated there after being evicted from previous locations in south Minneapolis.

Lomheim worries about the safety of people living at encampments and their neighbors.

“It’s unsafe for housed and unhoused residents. This is just not something that should be allowed in a modern city. This is ignoring people’s health and safety,” Lomheim said. “These propane tanks are unsafe. You can’t have mixed wood fire and propane tanks with yurts and tents. It’s a recipe for death, basically."

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