SLP Firefighters Help Combat Edina Blaze

St. Louis Park firefighters were among several crews on-scene early Wednesday as a three-story apartment building in southern Edina was left scorched by a massive fire.

"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 an apartment building 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.

were joined by crews from Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Hopkins, Richfield and St. Louis Park, among others.

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

One male resident of the building received treatment from Hennepin County EMS workers for smoke inhalation. The man's inhalation was relatively minor, and he was released on scene.

Crews had extinguished the flames by 12:30 a.m. and were going through every floor of the building to ensure there were no more hot spots left, according to Gilgenbach.

The fire was isolated to the west side of the building, with major smoke, water and fire damage in that portion of the structure. Gilgenbach said it's too early to place a dollar figure on the damage done by the fire or to begin trying to piece together the cause. 

"We aren't even sure which floor the fire started on at this point, so it's a little premature for a cause," he said.