Latest Update: Preliminary Cause Identified for Fire at Roseville Apartment Complex

Second update (Friday evening):

The cause of a fire at the Terrace Park Apartments in Roseville has been linked to a faulty box fan, accordilng to a preiliminary report by the city fire marshall.

Roseville Fire Chief Tim O'Neill said early Friday evening that it appeared a box fan on the patio deck of a third-floor apartment malfunctioned, that it arced and caught on fire.

Meanwhile, early Friday evening, the citiy was still working to get residents back into their apartments, O'Neill said.

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First Update (12:10 p.m. Friday):

The cause of a fire at the Terrace Park Apartments  in Roseville remained under investigation this morning, said Roseville Fire Chief Tim O'Neill.

A fire at about 8 p.m. Thursday gutted four units at the complex's building at 1420 Terrace Drive. That building has 36 units, residents said,

O'Neill said that residents displaced due to the fire would be able to return to the buiilding today to get more of their belongings. Depending on where they live in the building, some residents might be able to  move back to their apartments as early as Friday evening, he said.

However, O'Neill said it could be a longer wait for residents whose units are near those that were gutted on the building's second- and third floors.

(Original post 11:48 p.m. Thursday)

A fire earlier Thursday evening gutted four units at the Terrace Park Apartments in Roseville but no one was injured, according to an initial report from city Fire Chief Tim O'Neill.

The Roseville Fire Department was dispatched to 1420 Terrace Drive shortly before 8 p.m. to find flames shooting off the decks and through the roofs of two third-story apartents with two apartments one floor below also on fire, O'Neill said.

O'Neill said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Other apartments in the 36-unit building sustained heat and smoke damage, he said. The blaze displaced dozens of residents for the night.

As a precaution, the Fire Department had power to the building turned off and told residents they would need to find temporary housing at least for the night. Firefigthers were conducting a walk-through the building to make sure there were no undetected hot spots, O'Neill said.

A number of neighborhing fire departments provided back-up assistance to Roseville in fighting the fire, including Little Canada, Lake Johanna, Falcon Heights and Maplewood.

Residents of the building were allowed briefly to return to gather up their cell phones, medications and any other essentials for their overnight stays elsewhere.

Among those tenants whose apartments were gutted was 89-year-old Mark Liberko, who has lived at the Terrace Park complex since 1992.

Liberko said he lived next door to one of the third-floor apartments that went up in flames. "My apartment is gone," he said. His first concern was to retrieve his car keys so he could drive somewhere for the night. 

Liberko said he first was alerted to the fire when a firefighter knocked on his door. "As I looked out the window, I could see flames coming from my neighbor's apartment," said Liberko, a retired electrical products distributor.

Meanwhile, one of Liberko's third-floor neighbors, Susan Anderson, did not know what damage her apartment sustained. Anderson, a 45-year-old state auditor, said she helped neighbors get themselves and their pets out of the burning building.

O'Neill said the Red Cross and the Salvation Army were on the scene to assist displaced residents with emergency housing.