HomeMy WebLinkAboutBasementFire10-05-17
Contact: Marty Doll, Communications Coordinator
Phone 952-826-0396 • Fax 952-826-0390 • Web www.CityofEdina.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Edina Fire Department extinguishes basement bedroom
fire
Edina, Minn., May 17, 2010 – A working smoke alarm combined with a quick 9-1-1 call by
homeowners allowed the Edina Fire Department to contain and extinguish a small basement fire
before it could spread throughout an Edina home.
Shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, the Edina Fire Department responded to a report of fire in
a basement bedroom on Evanswood Lane. Crews arrived shortly after the call and entered the
house through a walkout sliding glass door in the basement.
Crews proceeded to the bedroom, where they encountered smoke from floor to ceiling. Short
bursts of water were used across the ceiling and walls to cool the fire and hot gases. Windows,
which had already began to crack, were broken out to clear some of the smoke. The fire was then
completely extinguished, and the remaining smoke ventilated.
According to Edina Fire Marshal Tom Jenson, the homeowner who placed the 9-1-1 call indicated
she had discovered the fire after investigating the sound of a basement smoke alarm. The woman
told investigators that she saw the fire burning in the corner of the bedroom, closed the door, and
immediately called 9-1-1. The woman says she also informed her husband, who decided against
trying to put out the fire himself with a fire extinguisher.
“He checked the door first, and it was hot,” said Edina Fire Marshal Tom Jenson of the
homeowner’s account of the incident. “He turned around and got out of the house. He did the right
thing.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Investigators believe it originated next to a bed
where a small lamp was plugged in on the floor. It is presently unknown whether the lamp was on
or off, or if it was related to the fire. The scene was protected to allow insurance investigators to
examine it more closely.
Damage to the home was confined to smoke and fire damage in the bedroom walls and ceiling, and
did not spread to any structural components. Additional crews from St Louis Park, Richfield, Eden
Prairie and Hennepin County Paramedics responded to the scene.
For more information, visit www.CityofEdina.com/Fire or call the Edina Fire Department at 952-
826-0330.
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