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At 10:14 PM the Duluth Fire Department responded to an automatic fire alarm from the Kozy Apartments, 109 N 2nd Ave E.  The original report to 911 came from the alarm company, but was followed shortly by several phone calls from residents reporting smoke coming from an apartment.

Enroute to the fire, a report of flames coming from the building windows triggered a regular fire alarm response and Assistant Fire Chief Richard Mattson called for a 2nd alarm. 

Upon arrival firefighters encountered flames and heavy smoke coming from the windows at the front of the apartment building.  There were many residents evacuating the building but some of them were indicating that people were trapped in the fire building.  Several of the evacuated residents had singed their hair from the heat of the fire.

Firefighters layed hose lines into the building and began fighting the fire.  A search was also started to find any residents still in the fire building.  Firefighters found many residents still in the hallways and others still inside of their apartments.  They escorted all of these residents out of the building.  Several minutes into the fire a male resident on the 3rd floor came to his window and opened it to yell for help.  Firefighters set up a ladder and rescued the man by assisting him out the window and onto the ladder.  The resident was covered with soot and was coughing as he was taken to a waiting ambulance.  His condition is unknown at this time.  A cat and a dog were also rescued from the fire building by firefighters. 

The fire got a head start on firefighters and was difficult to extinguish.  Heavy flames, smoke, and collapse danger caused firefighters to pull out of the building twice to go defensive during the firefighting operation.  The fire got into an attic space above the 3rd floor and burned through the roof causing a partial collapse of the roof deck. Firefighters were finally able to gain access to the attic space and knock down the concealed fire.  Several hours of overhaul were required to finally get the fire completely out.

The damage to the building is extensive.  The front half of the 3rd floor was gutted by the flames.  The roof burned off the front quarter of the building. The remainder of the 3rd floor recieved heavy heat and smoke damage and the 2nd and first floors had heavy water damage from the operation of the master streams used during the defensive part of the firefighting operation.  The damage to the building is estimated at $500,000.  The damage to the contents is estimated at $150,000.

All residents of the apartment building were displaced by the fire and are being housed by the Red Cross at local motels.  The residents will be unable to move back into the apartments for a long time.  The damage to the kozy Bar on the lowest level of the building is extensive and will also prevent them from opening in the near future.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.  The Duluth Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the cause and origin.  No firefighters were injured at this incident.  A total of 33 firefighters fought the blaze.