Why Did Minneapolis Smell Like A Fire Thursday?

Smoke from a controlled burn in northern Hennepin County has wafted all the way to Minneapolis.

Thursday afternoon, you may have noticed that parts of Southwest Minneapolis smell like fire. The smell of smoke has wafted all the way from the city of Corcoran, in northern Hennepin County. Corcoran city workers worked on a controlled burn Thursday, Nov. 15 to help with "drainage" for area farmers and roadways, according to city workers on the scene. The controlled burned was aimed at some of the dead brush and weeds lining the bushes in the fields near Shutte Road and Brandywine Road in Corcoran, behind Corcoran City Hall and off of a gravel road off located near County Road 101 and Rush Creek Elementary. The Maple Grove Police Department, on its Facebook page, said the controlled burn was 20 acres in Corcoran.  Dozens of interested …

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City, Fire Dept. Union Spar Over State Of Force

City Council-commissioned study of the Minneapolis Fire Department greeted with fury.

According to the Star-Tribune, the union that represents Minneapolis Fire Department is reacting with anger to a new top-to-bottom study of the department. Commissioned by the City Council, the study was supposed to help the department figure out where the department should plant its feet after a rocky period where several city councilmembers suggested, during open council meetings, that firefighters were abusing sick time. Several years of cutbacks have created a situation where large numbers of sick firefighters one day threatens the fire department's response times—described as "excellent" in the study. Fast response times are particularly critical in medical cases, to which firefighters frequently respond. According to the study, sick …

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Victim Of House Fire Was Actor, Activist

Family members say Adam Briesemeister died trying to save others in the house. Friends will honor him Saturday at Powderhorn Park.

One Dead. Four Homeless.

Fire strikes the Lyndale neighborhood.

One person is dead, one injured, and a total of four people are without a home today after fire swept through a rented house at the corner of 35th Street and Harriet Avenue early yesterday morning.  Minneapolis fire crews responded to a passerby's call at 6 a.m. to find fire engulfing the front porch of the three-story house, said Assistant Fire Chief Cherie Penn. After getting the porch fire under control, Penn said in a statement that firefighters discovered that while most of the fire was contained in the first floor, fire had also spread up the front wall into the second and third floors. While rooting out these flames and evacuating residents, Penn said, firefighters discovered the body of a resident, who was pronounced dead at the …

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Deadly Fire Hits Lyndale

One dead, four homeless at 35th and Harriet.

City: Tap Water Safe To Drink After Chemical Spill

Chemical accident at water treatment plant raised fears.

A chemical accident at the City of Minneapolis Water Works in Columbia Heights yesterday afternoon, causing staff members to evacuate the building, but city tap water is safe to drink according to a city spokesperson. The accident, which sent Minneapolis, Fridley and Columbia Heights fire department personnel racing to the scene in silver HAZMAT suits, did not at any time risk contamination of the water supply, he said in a written statement. No injuries were reported among treatment plat staff or first responders. According to the Star-Tribune, crews accidentally mixed chemicals used to clean the filtration systems: 6,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid and 500 gallons ofcaustic soda, also known as lye. The two react, producing sodium …

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