UPDATED: Third Alarm Fire Erupts at Burnsville Apartment Complex
Updated 3:50 PM on March 15, 2024.
BURNSVILLE, MINNESOTA - Around 1:33 PM on Thursday, March 14, 2024, the Burnsville Fire Department, with mutual aid from the Eagan Fire Department, was dispatched to the Meridian Pointe Apartments in Burnsville, Minnesota, for the reports of a deck fire that had started on the first floor and had quickly spread to the second and third floors. Additionally, officers with the Burnsville Police Department were reporting heavy smoke.
This call was quickly upgraded to a second-alarm fire at around 1:35 PM, and the Apple Valley Fire Department provided additional mutual aid. According to scanner traffic from Dakota County Dispatch, law enforcement reported that all three apartment building floors were on fire as of 1:36 PM. Law enforcement was working to evacuate people from the building. The first fire units arrived on the scene around 1:37 PM and confirmed the working structure fire. Fire crews chose an offensive attack on the fire with ladder one directed to hit the decks with water. Around 1:41 PM, the fire was upgraded to a third alarm with additional mutual aid from Apple Valley Fire Department and Savage Fire Department. The Burnsville Command Vehicle was also called to the scene at 1:48 PM.
We spoke with four witnesses on the scene. One gentleman saw the initial flames and called 911. He stated he was getting into his vehicle in front of the apartment when he noticed fire climbing up the outside siding of the building from the ground apartment deck. He reported that a gust of wind came, and that caused the fire to spread more quickly up the siding on the outside of the building, eventually catching the second and third deck areas on fire. The other two witnesses were in the third-floor apartment and reported smelling smoke about 20-30 minutes before seeing the smoke. They thought it was just someone having a bonfire in the area. Once they started seeing the dark smoke from below them, they said they decided to exit the building immediately. Upon leaving the building, they encountered the first gentleman who told them to pull the fire alarm as he was on the phone with 911.
Photo credit: Carson Braun.
We spoke with the Burnsville Fire Chief at the fire scene, who stated that the fire's cause was unknown, but he said there were no injuries he knew of. The first gentleman who saw the fire told us he saw the fire corner of the deck on the ground floor apartment. He said that the residence had several items packed in that corner where the flames came from, including what appeared to be some planters. Behind the planters was an electrical outlet, but the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
The fourth witness we spoke to said she lived on the ground floor of the back of the apartment building. She reported that she could smell smoke from the fire, but the halls had no smoke. All witnesses that we spoke to said that the sprinklers in the building never went off, but the 4th witness did report that her apartment had a decent amount of water damage.
Latest Update - 3:50 PM on March 15, 2024
According to the City of Burnsville Officials, the cause of the fire at the Meridian Pointe Apartments is still under investigation. They reported that the interior fire suppression/sprinkler system did operate. They report that 36 units were displaced as a result of this fire. Three were due to fire damage, and the rest were due to smoke and/or water damage. According to one of the displaced victims who contacted us, victims were originally told they would get vouchers from the Red Cross to stay in a hotel but were put into a local shelter at around 6 PM Thursday instead.
We will provide another update when the cause of the fire is determined.
