The early morning fire that destroyed a building housing two south Minneapolis clinics on Wednesday has been ruled accidental by investigators.
The fire probably started in a void between the ceiling and the roof in the northwest corner of the building, according to the Minneapolis Arson Unit. Nothing indicated suspicious activity, investigators said Friday.
How exactly the fire started remains unclear, said Assistant Fire Chief Cherie Penn.
The single-story building housed Southgate Physical Therapy and Bloomington Lake Clinic, which has treated generations of families since the Great Depression.
Fire crews responded to the blaze at 2:40 a.m. Wednesday. They tried three times to fight the fire inside the clinic, but evacuated because of concerns that the building would collapse, according to the Fire Department. No one was injured.
The building, at E. Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue S., has been demolished, Penn said.
Bloomington Lake Clinic has moved doctors displaced by the fire to a satellite site in Bloomington, and they'll see patients there for the time being, said Dr. Walter Hinck, assistant medical director of the physician-owned clinic. "Now we're in the process of trying to figure out what are the next steps... and what are our options for a Minneapolis site," he said Friday.
SARAH LEMAGIE
