Roof collapses after fire at 20-unit St. Paul apartment building

Roof collapses after fire at 20-unit St. Paul apartment building Joey Swanson/Ellen Galles KSTP St. Paul apartment building destroyed in fire A fire destroyed a 20-unit apartment building near St. Catherine University on Monday and forced dozens of people from their homes. The fire happened near Randolph Avenue by the St. Kate’s campus. Everyone inside made it out safely, including residents on the top floor, but the building was a total loss and is now set to be torn down. “There was smoke coming out of the roof, we saw flames in our own apartment window. it was scary,” resident Sean Cheatwood said. Cheatwood lived in top-floor apartments with burned out and broken windows. The deputy fire chief said the roof had started to collapse and the fire appeared to have started in the attic, but it was too early to determine a cause. The deputy fire chief said some pets were still unaccounted for. Residents in two neighboring apartment buildings were also evacuated. “Now looking back, I’m thinking of all of the things I could have grabbed, because now I can’t go back there,” resident Paige Fryon said. Fryon said everything she owned was inside, including her cap and gown for next month’s graduation ceremony. The deputy fire chief also said the alarms were going off at first even though there was not much smoke or many flames, which may have made it seem like a false alarm. He said people should always take fire alarms seriously, no matter what they see. Due to the large amount of water damage, St. Paul Regional Water has been notified. The Red Cross is helping the displaced residents.