Four Buildings Demolished After Fire In Downtown Alexandria

The fire reportedly started at Raapers Eatery & Ale.

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. – “We were paged at 4:34 this morning for a downtown building apartment fire. A tenant had smoke coming into his apartment,”  Chief Jeff Karrow, from the Alexandria Fire Department says.

To prevent the fire from spreading, crews had to demolish businesses within the block which included RM Tattoo, Raapers Eatery & Ale, Charlie’s Bazaar and Little Darlings Children’s Boutique.

Residents who lived above the businesses were immediately evacuated and have been accounted for.

“There are 13 apartments up there, we evacuated, I’m going to say 20 to 25 residents. We sent them now to the fire station. They are now working on temporary housing at a local hotel,” Chief Karrow says.

Officials are currently investigating how the fire started.

“We don’t know exactly how it started. I did call the duty officer, we do have the state fire marshal investigating, It’s way too early to say what happened.,” he says.

Bob Ramsey, who lives across the street, was woken up by firefighter trucks.

“I was kind of worried. Would it spread, you know, I live there. At one point, when the fire came out, I had my window open and I could feel the heat,” Ramsey says.

A business owner says he is already looking for a temporary location to move his chiropractic office.

“Initially we thought our office would be okay, cause the fire was spreading that direction, but we’ve got very severe water damage and our building is a total loss as well,” says Evan Eigen, a business owner at  Achieve Wellness Chiropractic Center.

Over 100 firefighters, police officers and Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies were on the scene.