Crime & Safety
UPDATE: Lightning Strike Fire Causes $300,000 Damage to Two Condos
A four-unit condominium on Hunter Hill Road caught fire after a lightning strike on Saturday night. Two of the four units were damaged to the tune of about $300,000, according to Hudson Fire Chief Jim Frye.
UPDATE (3:24 a.m., Aug. 19, 2012): Chief Jim Frye to Hudson Patch early on Sunday morning that the condominium fire on Hunter Hill Road damaged only two of the four condo units in the building, and estimated that there were about $300,000 in damages.
Frye said that the fire wasn't particularly intense or damaging, but it was a tricky one to fight. It was contained to the attics and the diving wall between two of the units.
"We had to vent the roof and pull some sheetrock down," Frye said. "Our guys performed very well, as did the neighboring departments that were here."
Find out what's happening in Hudsonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Condo Association President Pat Malone was on the phone in her driveway across the street in the process of getting an insurance claim started. She said everyone had evacuated right away and that most of the displaced residents were taken in for the night by a neighbor.
Both Malone and Association Secretary Julie Minke, who also lives across the street from the fire-damaged building, confirmed that lightning struck in the neighborhood just before the fire started.
Find out what's happening in Hudsonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"I heard the big 'kaboom!' and it almost knocked me off the sofa," Minke said.
Several other neighbors who were standing on the sidewalk watching the emergency personnel work confirmed that lightning had struck.
Fire crews from St. Joseph, Roberts, River Falls, Bayport and Lower St. Croix Valley responded to the scene. United Fire & Rescue out of Baldwin covered the Hudson station and Stillwater Fire Department covered the St. Joseph station.
"Everybody got a little action tonight," Frye said. " doing our rehab did a wonderful job too."
Frye said after he cleared the scene he planned to check on two firefighters who were taken to for exhaustion.
Twin Cities Fire Wire also has a post with photos from the scene.
SEE THE TWIN CITIES FIRE WIRE POST
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ORIGINAL POST (11:34 p.m., Aug. 18, 2012): Hudson Fire units responded to reports of a lightning strike fire at 1504 Hunter Hill Rd. at just before 10 p.m. on Saturday. Hudson Fire Chief Jim Frye said no one has been injured.
Some of the residents were away from home during the fire while others evacuated quickly after the lightning strike. The four-condo building houses units 1504, 1520, 1522 and 1606 — all three-bedroom residences.
Heavy smoke poured from the building for more than an hour, but no flames were visible from the street as fire crews cut holes in the building and fought the attic blaze from the roof and overhead with aid from a ladder truck.
Multiple emergency crews from around the area have been dispatched to aid Hudson Fire with this fire. Crews from Roberts, St. Joseph and Lower St. Croix Valley were on scene. Crews from Bayport, Somerset and River Falls have been called to cover stations of the departments on scene.
Hudson Police, St. Croix EMS and Xcel Energy also have personnel at the scene.
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This post will be updated with more information as it is gathered.
