Marcus Jones thought his family had escaped bad luck when a fire broke out in the apartment unit below his own Sunday evening. Brooklyn Center firefighters quickly responded and extinguished the flames. But hours later, on Monday morning, the fire rekindled.
“If you look up there, you see it’s completely burned down,” said Jones. “There’s nothing in there.”
Investigators believe the fire started in the kitchen of a first-floor unit. Jones, his wife and two children lived in the apartment above it. Though there was minimal damage to their unit on Sunday evening, firefighters recommended he take his family and stay overnight at a friend’s house. Jones got a call Monday morning that the fire had rekindled and his unit was now completely destroyed.
“I’m still in shock because I lost everything I ever worked for,” he said.
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Jones says the second fire spread to Jones' unit and into the roof. Around 50 firefighters from nine departments were called in to help fight the blaze.
A total of six units are now uninhabitable, and at least 18 residents are working with the Red Cross to find temporary housing, food and clothing.
As Jones watches the cleanup efforts and waits for a call back from his insurance company, he is trying to focus not on what he lost, but on what he still has.
“I thank God my family and I are still alive,” he said. “Because those are just material things, and we can still get it back.”
Officials believe the first fire started in the kitchen but they continue to investigate. They also said there were working smoke alarms and fire alarms. No one was injured in either fire.
Cassie Bonstrom, reporting
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Channel 12 is on Comcast cable in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.
