(photo used with permission: Charles Radtke – Facebook)
(all other photos, and audio in story: Kendell Kubasch / KRWC Radio)
We have more information today on the severity of an apartment fire in the community of Winsted on Wednesday.
The Winsted and Lester Prairie Fire Departments were the first to be called to the blaze at the A-Plus Apartments off 6th Street North in Winsted around 11:30 Wednesday morning.
Winsted Police Chief Justin Heldt was the first on the scene…
“I observed fire coming from one of the garage stalls, there were multiple garage stalls connected to one structure in between two apartment buildings. One of the garage stalls was open, and there were flames coming from that garage stall.”
Chief Heldt says the northmost building sustained the most damage, and required an immediate evacuation…
“For the 541 building, there were some folks who were outside the building, I advised them to, if they could, to get their vehicles…because there’s an area where you park in front of the apartment building, I asked them if they could to get their vehicles out of there and flee the area. I then entered the apartment building and began knocking on doors and yelling to evacuate. There were a number of folks and their animals that were evacuated to the north of that building.”
Chief Heldt says in a matter of moments, the side of the north apartment building was fully involved in the blaze. The south building was also evacuated, but residents were able to re-occupy their apartment units by Wednesday evening. The south building did sustain some damage to the vinyl siding.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported to either residents or emergency responders. Unfortunately, none of the units in the north building are inhabitable. The Red Cross, and a group called Winsted Angels are helping the displaced residents of that building.
The Winsted Fire Department was assisted by fire crews from Lester Prairie, Plato, Silver Lake, Howard Lake and Cokato. Also on the scene along with the Winsted Police were the McLeod County Sheriff’s Office, the State Patrol, the Minnesota DNR, and the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
The Fire Marshal is continuing the investigation into the cause of the blaze. No dollar values of property damage in the buildings and the garages have yet been determined.
