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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Duluth - Fire Department
602 West Second Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802
218-730-4400 •www.duluthmn.gov
For more information contact Kelli Latuska,
Public Information Officer at 218-730-5309
DATE: 1/29/2011
SUBJECT: Fire Sprinkler Controls Fire
BY: Asst Fire Chief Richard Mattson

NATURE OF INCIDENT: Munger Terrace Apartment Fire
CASE NO.: 11000675
INCIDENT DATE: 1/29/2011
INCIDENT TIME: 3:37 AM
INCIDENT LOCATION: 405 Mesaba Ave

At 3:37 AM the Duluth Fire Department responded to a report of an apartment fire at Munger Terrace Apartments, 405 Mesaba Ave.  Upon arrival they determined the fire was located in the 4th floor apartment of a center section of the building. The automatic fire sprinkler system had activated in the fire apartment and mostly extinguished the fire.  Firefighters shut down the sprinkler system, ventilated the smoke from the building and evacuated the water from the sprinkler discharge.

The fire was caused by a child playing with fire while his mother was sleeping.  He woke his mother to tell her the couch was on fire and they escaped the apartment without injury.  The sprinkler system knocked the fire down before it could become life threatening to the occupants.  It also limited the fire damage to a scorched wall and ceiling.  Without this system in place the outcome would have been much worse.

Red Cross personnel responded to the scene to offer temporary lodging and meals to the eight residents displaced by the fire.  The water damage to four units located in the fire section of the building was extensive.  It will take a considerable amount of time and effort before residents will be able to return to their homes.