Officials seek cause of Mpls. foundry fire

MINNEAPOLIS -- Fire officials are still trying to determine the cause of a fire at the Smith Foundry in Minneapolis.

Workers were able to safely evacuate the foundry on East 28th Street between Cedar and Hiawatha avenues. But the fire heavily damaged a 3,500-square-foot storage building.

Fire Marshal Perry Ebner says firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after 9 p.m. Friday and battled the blaze for about two hours.

"We're not quite sure how it started," Ebner says. "When the crews first arrived on scene, there was a pile of pallets, wood pallets against the outside the building, that were on fire. In between those were a stack of 40-pound propane cylinders, the ones they use usually for forklifts for fuel. Several of those ended up exploding."

About 45 firefighters worked to extinguish the fire. One firefighter was taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion but was released. Bicyclists were diverted from the nearby Midtown Greenway trail until the fire was brought under control.

"Just another one of your hot fires on a hot summer day," Ebner says. "Luckily there's no civilians injured. The residents weren't in danger at any point, and the fire was contained and held to that property. We're happy that was taken care of and all of our firefighters did a wonderful job."