Apartment Building Charred, 3 Injured by Four-Alarm Fire: 2012 in Review

Edina Patch covered a lot of different stories, topics and events throughout 2012. That said, there were a few that stood out as the most interesting, important, touching or possibly infamous to our readers.

And as we near the end of 2012, we're looking back at those articles. The following is one of those stories.

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A three-story apartment building in southern Edina was left charred and wet after numerous fire crews put out a massive fire in the early hours of Wednesday, July 11.

"A good chunk of the building is pretty charred right now," said Jordan Gilgenbach, communications coordinator with the City of Edina. 

The initial call came in at 11:22 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10, with reports of heavy smoke on the first floor of Parklawn Estates Apartments, in the 4100 block of Parklawn Avenue. The blaze eventually escalated to a four-alarm fire before crews were able to put it out, following more than an hour of grueling work.

“The fire alarms worked throughout, which allowed for a safe evacuation,” said Edina Fire Chief Marty Scheerer. “But if this building had sprinklers, it is very possible the fire could have been contained to the one unit.” 

The fire started in the garbage can of a first-floor apartment, causing significant damage to the two apartments above it and moderate damage to three additional apartments. Dozens of additional units sustained smoke damage during the fire. The resident of the apartment where the fire started was not home at the time, according to officials.

Edina firefighters were joined by crews from more than 10 neighboring fire departments.

A substantial number of residents were inside the 118-unit building at the time of the fire, but Gilgenbach said everyone was successfully evacuated.

Read the remainder of the story here.

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