Fire at Minneapolis encampment causes visible smoke plume above city

A fire at a south Minneapolis encampment caused visible smoke above the city on Monday afternoon. Pictures shared on social media showed that the fire and smoke was visible from downtown.

The fire was near the intersection of 14th Avenue South and East 29th Street.

Nearby resident Chris Lomheim saw the smoke and heard a loud noise.

“An explosion rocked our building — that was two and a half blocks away — and our parrot freaked out and started flying around,” Lomheim said. “The explosion shook the building.”

The fire is not the first at a Minneapolis homeless encampment. Last month, a fire on the 2400 block of 15th Avenue South spread to a neighboring home. Crews arrived to find several tents in the encampment fully engulfed in flames and propane tanks exploding, as well as the neighboring home that had caught fire.

And almost a year ago, Camp Nenookaasi caught fire on the 1100 block of East 28th Street. The fire sent a thick plume of dark smoke into the sky over south Minneapolis and left charred debris spread across the site that had been home to Camp Nenookaasi for about a month. The encampment relocated there after being evicted from previous locations in south Minneapolis.

Lomheim worries about the safety of people living at encampments and their neighbors.

“It’s unsafe for housed and unhoused residents. This is just not something that should be allowed in a modern city. This is ignoring people’s health and safety,” Lomheim said. “These propane tanks are unsafe. You can’t have mixed wood fire and propane tanks with yurts and tents. It’s a recipe for death, basically.”

It was not immediately clear what the cause of Monday’s fire was or if anyone was injured. The Office of Community Safety confirmed the fire, saying there were reports of two fires from homeless encampments on Monday afternoon. One was reported near Lake Street and Park Street and another near 14th Avenue South and East 29th Street.