A three-alarm fire tore through connected commercial buildings on East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis Sunday afternoon, sending two firefighters to the hospital and threatening decades of Dakota and Ojibwe curriculum stored in a neighboring tribal building. The blaze prompted the dispatch of 50 to 60 firefighters and caused part of the structure's roof and rear section to collapse.
The call came in around 4 p.m. Sunday for a fire at a commercial building on the 1400 block of East Franklin Avenue, according to KSTP. As crews worked to knock down the flames, the back part of the building and sections of its roof gave way, the station reported. The fire ultimately grew to three alarms, with between 50 and 60 firefighters dispatched to the scene, per CBS News Minnesota.
Two Minneapolis firefighters were hospitalized with minor burns after becoming trapped by racks inside the burning building before managing to exit on their own, the outlet's report noted. One report also cited heat exhaustion among the injuries firefighters sustained battling the blaze.
Tribal Curriculum and Records at Risk
The fire's threat extended beyond the structure itself. An adjoining building belonging to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe houses 30 years of Dakota and Ojibwe curriculum, the same report detailed. That building also serves the Fond du Lac Chippewa Tribe and the Fond du Lac Urban Tribe, and it contains materials that cannot be replaced if damaged.
“There's unreplaceable things in this building from water damage, smoke damage,” a source told the station, describing the stakes for the organizations housed there. As reported by FOX 9, the neighboring building was described as holding Native American records that cannot be replaced, with the executive director of Wicoie Nandagikaden describing the records as including the oldest Dakota language archive in Minnesota.
Cause Still Under Investigation
No cause has been determined for the fire, which remains under investigation.
