By Paul Walsh
The Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — Fire erupted early Friday in downtown Winona, apparently starting in the Islamic Center and spreading through the block.
There were several apartments in the block, but there have been no reports of injuries from the blaze, which was first reported to authorities about 2 a.m.
By late morning, Fire Chief Curt Bittle said the fire had been contained. He said three buildings are a total loss, including the Islamic Center, where the fire burned for some time before it was called in.
The blaze began in the center, which includes a mosque and has been operating in the southeastern community for 20 years, its founder said as he watched from the scene.
Ahmed El-Afandi, who started the center and is a retired professor of political science at Winona State University, said investigators “don’t know anything yet” about the fire’s cause. “Nobody [in the community] has given us any trouble.”
The St. Paul office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has dispatched several investigators to assist authorities on the scene, but the agency said its participation should not be interpreted as pointing to arson being involved.
“There is no indication at this time that this was intentionally set,” said ATF spokesman Robert Schmidt, who explained that the agency is being pulled in to “increase the manpower” assigned to investigate the blaze.
El-Afandi characterized the religious center he started in 1993, in an L-shaped building with entrances on Center and Third Streets, as “pretty much gone.”
An excavator was brought in “to bring the building down,” Deputy Police Chief Tom Williams said about seven hours after the fire was first reported.
Many blocks in each direction of the blaze were closed to allow firefighters access to hydrants and room for running their hoses, Williams added.
Williams concurred with El-Afandi that his department has dealt with “no trouble whatsoever” in connection with the Islamic Center.
The building where the fire began also houses Paul Brosnahan’s law firm, “but fortunately, our business records are all backed up electronically off-site,” the attorney said, soon after visiting the burning block.
The fire “got into an attic, and it was jumping from building to building,” he said, relaying information he received from fire officials. “I had an apartment with three young [Winona State] sophomores. Fortunately, all three young girls are safe.”
Brosnahan said that when he arrived at the scene, he saw fire and police personnel from eight to 10 surrounding communities there in support, along with a Red Cross vehicle “feeding the students that were displaced. They vacated the whole block for smoke reasons.”
The attorney added that “we just keep getting these offers from people” of office workspace for his firm.
Mary Jo Marks, whose Blooming Grounds coffee shop is behind the Islamic Center, stood near her business as the morning stretched on and said the fire “is pretty much done now.”
Marks said she has spoken to tenants “above my shop, and they got out. ... They saw the smoke coming out of the building” where the fire began.
As for her 10-year-old business, Marks said the damage is pretty much limited to the effects of smoke and water.
“It didn’t burn down, so that’s good,” she added, noting that her building is more than 140 years old.
“This is a great corner to be on,” Marks said, already thinking about when she can reopen. “I’m standing next to my insurance guy right now.”
Along with the structures that have either burned or been overwhelmed by smoke and water, “some surrounding buildings have been evacuated” as a precautionary measure, said Marie Barrientos, executive director for the Red Cross in the area.
The relief agency was not only trying to arrange alternative housing for the displaced apartment tenants, but it also has been providing breakfast, snacks, water and Gatorade to apartment residents, and fire and police personnel on the scene.
With the most perilous of the firefighting over, the focus now turns to cleaning up in the blaze’s aftermath.
“We’re already doing lunch,” Barrientos said, “so we’re going to be here for a while.”
The Red Cross said it has found temporary shelter for 16 people, many of them students at Winona State. Some are in hotels and others in campus dormitories, said Dianne Thompson, the agency’s emergency services coordinator.
Jake Lindberg, who lived above the law office, said all of his belongings were inside.
“I like some of the things I have,” Lindberg said, as he stopped to stare at a rushing river of sooty water pouring from the building’s front entrance. “But I like life more.”
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(c)2013 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
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