Update: Roseville Apartment Fire Tuesday Night Causes Extensive Smoke Damage But No Injuries Reported

A fire Tuesday night at an apartment at the Centennial Commons complex in Roseville caused extensive smoke damage but was quickly extinguished with no injuries reported.

However, the incident left at least four dozen people unable to return to their apartments for the night. KSTP TV reported the second-floor apartment fire forced the evacuation of nearly 100 residents, but a Roseville fire official estimated the number at closer to 50 to 60 people.

The Roseville Fire Department was dispatched to a three-story apartment building, 2825 Pascal St., at 7:45 p.m. and had the fire put out within a matter of minutes, said David Brosnahan, the department's battalion chief. 

But the fire wasn't extinguished before heavy smoke had filled the second and third floors of the building, Brosnahan said. Firefighters made a window rescue of one peron from a second-floor apartment, he added

Cause of the fire was under investigation, he said.

Under a mutual aid pact, the Lake Johanna Fire Department routinely helps back up the Roseville Fire Department. But in this case, with heavy smoke billowing from the apartment building, Roseville Fire officials tripped the alarm for additional help that also brought in crews from Little Canada, New Brighton, St. Anthony and Maplewood.

Brosnahan credited the swift work of the various fire departements for helping to contain what could have been a volatile fire. "It was a good joint effort between multiple fire departments," he said. 

Brosnahan estimated that most of the displaced residents would be able to return to their homes within one to three days. But a handful of others might be displaced for some time because of heavy smoke damage to their units, he said.

While fire officials and residents were grateful no one was hurt, some people said the fire was a hardship.

"Our daughter (Laura) lives in one of the second-floor apartments with our grandson," said Carol Dornfeld. "They are crushed because they don't know the condition of their belongings."

Meanwhile, Amanda Miller, of Grand Rapids, said she didn't know if she would be able to salvage clothes that she has had temporarily at her mother-in-law's second floor apartment. Miller said she had spent the last couple days in the Twin Cities and had left some of her belongings with her mother-in-law while she worked with her father on a project in the metro area.

"I hope my stuff didn't get ruined," Miller said. "I brought down a basket of clothes and that is all I have."