Apartment fire injures one; safety issues arise

A fire Sunday morning at Larson Commons senior apartments in Cloquet left one woman with severe injuries and her apartment damaged. It also raised questions about what would happen in case of a bigger fire.

According to the Cloquet Area Fire District, a call came in around 9:30 a.m. June 13 about a fire inside an apartment with a possible trapped victim. Upon arrival, fire crews forced entry into the apartment and found the residence full of smoke with zero visibility. Crews found and removed the occupant, later identified as Nancy Carlson, then quickly extinguished the fire. Carlson was treated by paramedics and transported to a Duluth hospital with severe injuries.

Located at 810 Cloquet Avenue, Larson Commons is a seven-story apartment building in downtown Cloquet. The company that operates the building, contacted via email, referred any questions about the fire to local law enforcement. Residents were willing to talk about their experience, but asked not to be named because they like living there.

Residents said it was common knowledge that Carlson smoked and also used oxygen to help with breathing. On Wednesday, the fire district released a second press release, noting that the fire appeared to be smoking-related and identifying Carlson. Smoking is prohibited inside the Larson Commons building. The Pine Knot News was unable to get an official update on Carlson’s condition before presstime.

“Smoking is the leading cause of fire fatalities,” CAFD spokesperson Sarah Buhs said. “And smoking while on oxygen in a room is very high-risk.”

Emergency protocol

The whole experience had some residents wondering what would happen in a worse emergency.

While Sunday’s fire was contained to one apartment, only about 20 of roughly 85 residents eventually made it outside the building after the fire alarm went off. One resident said the evacuation policy was recently changed and asks people to remain in their apartments unless someone knocks on their door and tells them to evacuate. Many of the residents at Larson Commons have handicaps and could find the stairways difficult to navigate, as the elevators are designed to not operate during a fire alarm.

The Minnesota State Fire Code requires that multi-residential buildings have fire safety and fire evacuation plans and these plans are to be shared with residents, according to Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division Fire Safety Supervisor Jon Nisja.

“That is why fire safety is so important in multi-residential buildings as a fire in any one apartment impacts many others in the building,” Nisja said. “Early warning smoke alarms, automatic fire alarm systems with smoke detection throughout the egress corridors, safe cooking practices, limiting the use of open flame devices-like candles, keeping corridor to room doors closed at all times, having non-combustible construction, keeping stairwell doors closed, and keeping stairways and exit paths clear of obstructions are all critical to occupant safety in these types of buildings.”

The hallways at Larson Commons are equipped with sprinklers. Cloquet building official Matt Munter said that while modern apartment buildings would probably be required to equip all apartments with sprinklers as well, the requirements depend on when the building was constructed.

“The building code is not retroactive,” Munter said. “If a building was constructed in the 1970s, the code allows it to be maintained with the code [in effect] at the time.”

County assessor Kyle Holmes confirmed the Larson Commons building was constructed in 1979, and contains 80 single units, five double units and one caretaker apartment.

According to the larsoncommons.com website, Larson Commons is intended for affordable senior living for those who are age 62 or older. Qualifying residents pay rent based on 30 percent of adjusted income.

“If they could enforce the no-smoking rules inside, this could have been avoided,” said one resident. Building managers asked residents to attend a meeting this week to discuss issues raised by the fire.

Carlton Fire and Ambulance, and the Carlton County Sheriff’s and Cloquet Police departments assisted the CAFD in responding to the fire Sunday.