Press releases

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.