A high-rise apartment building in St. Paul that’s home to 1,500 people was evacuated Sunday due to a fire and subsequent power outage.
All Skyline Tower residents were provided temporary lodging, according to information provided by the city on Monday.
The building on St. Anthony Avenue, just off Interstate 94, has 25 floors and 504 apartments.
Firefighters responded to a fire on the 12th floor at 12:23 a.m. Sunday. It had activated the fire alarms and firefighters extinguished it.
Building management was notified and arrived at the building. CommonBond Communities, an affordable housing nonprofit that serves low-income communities, manages Skyline Towers.
Soon after the fire, a high-capacity electrical conductor on the 12th floor failed, which activated the building’s fire protection sprinklers on the 12th, 13th and 14th floors and caused a complete power outage, according to the city.
The power outage disrupted water and heat, and disabled the fire suppression systems, fire alarms and all elevators.
St. Paul’s Department of Safety and Inspections revoked the building’s certificate of occupancy in line with the city’s emergency procedures, according to the city.
The city, CommonBond, the Salvation Army, Metro Transit and other agencies coordinated a floor-by-floor evacuation plan. It wasn’t immediately known Monday morning how long residents will be displaced.
“The city continues to coordinate closely with building management to implement their active emergency management plan and ensure the safety and well-being of all residents,” according to a statement from the city.
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