At 10:06 am on Friday, December 5th, Moorhead Fire crews were dispatched to investigate a fire reported to be extinguished in a commercial storage building at 1817 11th Street North. A neighboring tenant in the nine unit storage facility smelled smoke in the building and attempted to check on the occupant of unit number eight. Hearing unusual sounds coming from inside the unit, she called 911 and the building owners.
Police officers arrived and made contact with the occupant, an adult male, who stated he had been fighting a fire in the attic with a garden hose. The fire department was then dispatched to investigate. Upon arrival, crews interviewed the occupant who showed signs of significant and serious smoke inhalation complications. He was transported to Essentia Health. His current condition is not known.
Insulation was ignited in the attic by heat from a wood stove chimney and also damaged wiring and structural building components of two of the units and a limited amount of smoke damage affected the entire building. Crews worked for almost three hours to remove and fully extinguish smoldering materials. Early damage estimate is around $10,000. There were no other injuries.
The Moorhead Fire Department recommends that if a fire cannot be extinguished by occupants in less than a minute, leave the building and call 911. Fire can double in size every minute.
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