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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Second fire this month in Tower south side neighborhood

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 1/30/25

TOWER— Breitung police officials are hoping to talk to anyone with information about a late-night fire that destroyed a garage and contents, including two vehicles, on S. Second St., this past …

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Second fire this month in Tower south side neighborhood

Posted

TOWER— Breitung police officials are hoping to talk to anyone with information about a late-night fire that destroyed a garage and contents, including two vehicles, on S. Second St., this past Friday night.
Homeowner Dave Wanless said he noticed the blaze shortly before 10:45 p.m. and called 911. He said the fire appeared to start on an exterior corner of the garage but quickly engulfed the two-car structure. Given the nature of the fire, arson is certainly considered a strong possibility.
According to Wanless, the fire marshal did collect soil and ash samples from the corner where the fire appears to have started, presumably to test for the presence of an accelerant. Electrical shorts are a common cause of fires, but Wanless said the fire marshal noted that the corner of the garage where the fire appears to have started had no electrical lines in place, which would seem to rule out a short.
Wanless had recently had words with a neighbor on S. Second St. who is known to be highly volatile and threatening.
Friday’s fire was the second this month affecting residences on either side of the alley between S. Third and S. Second streets. A Jan. 9 fire just three doors down destroyed a home owned by Jim Anderson. The cause of that fire, which appears to have started from an explosion, has not yet be determined.
Fire contained
While the Wanless’s garage was a total loss, Wanless said a prompt and effective response by the Brietung fire department saved their house as well as a neighboring property. A neighbor’s garage is located barely ten feet away but firefighters were able to protect the structure. A tarp which covered stacked firewood under the eaves of the neighbors garage melted from the heat but the firewood behind it never ignited.
The intensity of the heat was apparent, however, as it melted vinyl siding from a garage located on the opposite side of the alley and cracked back windows in the Wanless’s house.