JACKSON - Four adults have been displaced after fire destroyed a large older home-turned-apartment building late Monday afternoon.
Jackson Fire Chief Mark Temple said when firefighters arrived at 725 White St., the southwest corner of the three-story structure was engulfed in flames. The second floor was already gone, preventing firefighters from getting at the fire, which quickly spread through the attic and into the other parts of the home.
“We couldn’t even get upstairs,” Temple said Tuesday morning. “There were a lot of hidden rooms and hallways in the structure - it was more of a defensive attack.”
The stucco-sided house held the heat in, which led to the decision to call in an excavator to “open up the house” about an hour and a half into the firefight.
“We had an excavator basically take it apart so we could get at the flames,” Temple said. Firefighters were on the scene for approximately four hours.
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The cause of the fire is unknown. Temple said the fire marshal was alerted Monday evening to the situation, but as of Tuesday morning he hadn’t received a response.
There were five apartments inside the home, but it was reported than only three of the units were occupied. Those who were home at the time were able to make it out without injury.
The Jackson Ambulance and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene. A spokesperson from the Southwest Minnesota Chapter of the American Red Cross said Tuesday the agency provided immediate assistance to the four individuals to meet their basic needs.
