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No
deaths or serious injuries were reported in the four-alarm
blaze. Three residents with minor injuries were taken to a
hospital for evaluation, and several others were treated at the
scene for smoke inhalation, officials said.
The fire erupted before dawn on the second floor of the
three-story Francis Drake Hotel before spreading to the third
floor and attic area of the brick building, city Fire Chief John
Fruetel told reporters outside the complex.
The cause was unknown, Fruetel said, adding that he expected it
would take fire crews until Thursday to fully extinguish the
blaze.
Television news footage showed flames leaping through the roof
amid thick smoke as firefighters poured streams of water onto
the burning structure.
"I would estimate that the building is going to be a total
loss," assistant fire chief Bryan Tyner told Minnesota Public
Radio News.
With temperatures hovering just above freezing, the city
immediately brought in transit buses to provide emergency
shelter and warmth for displaced residents, Mayor Jacob Frey
told a news briefing, adding that municipal agencies were
working with the American Red Cross and other authorities to
provide food, longer-term shelter, clothing and other needs for
the evacuees.
"These are people's lives, this is their home. They're concerned
about everything from a wallet or a phone so they can get in
touch with a loved one on Christmas, to where are their babies
going to get formula," Frey said, choking up with emotion.
The Francis Drake, which opened in 1926 as a luxury hotel later
converted to residential units, provides overflow shelter space
for homeless families, as well as temporary lodging for
individuals who lack permanent housing in Minnesota's largest
city, municipal and county officials said.
Drake Hotel resident Jason Vandenboom said he was awakened by
his wife when fire alarms sounded and he ventured out of their
unit to see "a guy coming down the hallway, just pounding on the
doors, saying, 'There's a fire, we gotta get out of here.'"
Gazing out to another wing of the building, "I saw flames
shooting at least about 10, 15 feet (3, 4.5 meters) up," he told
CBS affiliate WCCO-TV. Vandenboom said he then ran back to his
room and told his wife, "'Yeah, we gotta go now.' ... It was
bad."
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Culver City, Calif.; Editing by
Leslie Adler and Sandra Maler)
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