3 residents escape apartment fire

Published 9:41 am Friday, November 28, 2014

HIBBING — Around 70 emergency responders spent much of their Thanksgiving Day fighting a two-alarm fire at a Hibbing apartment building.

A neighbor told the fire department that flames were shooting out of the first floor of the two-story building around 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Two adults and one child were inside but escaped. They were taken to a hospital for evaluation.

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Fire Chief Erik Jankila said firefighters soon pulled out of the building because it was too dangerous and focused on keeping the fire contained.

Around 7:30 p.m. — after nearly five hours— crews began to question the integrity of the fire-damaged, water-soaked structure and called in the city’s public works crew to tear it down.

The cause of the fire has not been determined.