A fire broke out early Wednesday morning at the Francis Drake Hotel apartment building in downtown Minneapolis. The building serves mostly as temporary housing for homeless people.
Three residents were taken to the hospital with unspecified injuries, Minneapolis fire officials said. Several others were treated at the scene.
The Minneapolis Fire Department responded to the call around 3 a.m. and started evecuating more than 200 residents from the building near 10th Street and 5th Avenue South. The fire started on the second floor of the three-story building before spreading to the third floor and the attic, officials said.
Firefighters were forced to evacuate and fight the fire from the outside once it extended to the attic and through the roof .
By 5 a.m. the fire had gone to four alarms. Firefighters continue to battle the blaze.
Four Met Transit double length buses with residents inside curled up in blankets while someone figures out where they can go.
The Red Cross is on the scene distributing blankets and coffee from Spyhouse. There was also some food available, including hot dogs, potato chips and pop.
Alliyah Ross and Jamal Jones, both 20, were in a room on the third floor of the eastern side of the U-shaped shelter.
Both said they ignored the alarm when they first heard. They and other residents said there was a daytime test alarm last week so some thought this was another test. When the alarm kept beeping, Jones said he went to the front desk and learned it was real so he ran back up to get Ross and the baby.
“We werent going to grab the baby if it wasn’t a real alarm,” Jones said.
Ross said some 17 children huddled with the baby in a large portable toilet near the building until the buses showed up.
The Drake Hotel mostly serves as temporary housing for homeless people as an overflow shelter by Hennepin County when primary shelters are full. Built in 1926 as a luxury hotel, it has a 146 rooms.
This is a breaking story. The Star Tribune will continue to update with developments.
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