Plymouth fire displaces at least 150

David Kuntz's head had barely hit the pillow early Friday when he said God kicked him in the face.

Moments later, a whiff of smoke wafted into his Plymouth apartment. After grabbing his wife and their baby boy and scooting them outside, he pulled the fire alarm in the hall, banging on neighbors' doors and screaming "Flames! Flames! Get out! Get out!" He didn't heed his own advice, returning to his apartment twice to try to rescue his two dogs. He saved one but, crawling on the floor as flames shot through the living room, he couldn't rescue his 4-year-old wire fox terrier, Max.

Several residents credited Kuntz and another man for rousing them from sleep and getting everyone safely out of the large, three-story building, part of the Parkside complex on the 12000 block of 41st Avenue N. More than 150 people have been displaced, but nobody was seriously injured. It took firefighters from 17 departments about nine hours to extinguish the blaze, and nearly 40 of 72 units in the building were severely damaged, fire officials said.

The cause has not yet been determined.

The building, constructed in 1986, didn't have a sprinkler system, something that wasn't required by state law until 1989. The state's code now requires new apartment buildings with three or more stories or more than 16 units to have sprinkler systems.

Kuntz estimated it took only a minute before flames engulfed his second-floor apartment. He was thankful that his family wasn't harmed but angry that the state doesn't require older buildings to install sprinkler systems. He said he saw firsthand how difficult it was for several of his elderly neighbors to get out.

Danie Kinler, who lived two doors down from Kuntz, was awakened by his warning. Both lost all of their possessions. She was allowed inside her unit for a few minutes Friday, where she gathered some family photos.

"After I escaped outside during the fire, I just had to watch it and see if it was going to destroy my home," she said. "A lot of good people had bad things happen."

A resident called 911 at 1:11 a.m. to report the blaze.

There is a fire station two blocks away, but it's not staffed after 9 p.m., said Deputy Fire Chief Kip Springer. Paid on-call firefighters were paged to the fire, he said.

Although the third floor of the complex appeared to incur the most damage, Springer said he didn't know where the fire started or the cause. Inspectors will return to the building next week.

Fire officials tout sprinklers

Springer said a sprinkler system would have drastically reduced the amount of damage.

Last week, the state fire marshal's office said 81 building fires were put out by automatic sprinkler systems last year. "The benefits of sprinklers, whether they're built into a facility or retrofitted, become very clear when they knock down a potentially devastating fire," Fire Marshal Jerry Rosendahl said last week.

Research from the U.S. Department of Commerce shows the average safe-escape period in a building fire is about three minutes, he said.

Sen. Terri Bonoff, D-Minnetonka, and Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, who represent the district where the fire occurred, praised the work of the responders. When asked about sprinkler system requirements for apartments, both Anderson and Bonoff said they will look into the existing codes.

Putting the pieces back

Some of the people left homeless by the fire said they were staying with friends or relatives. The Red Cross was working to help place others.

Jennifer Meister lived in the complex with her 11-year-old daughter for two years. Her son and his girlfriend stood in the parking lot Friday, driving an hour from Princeton, Minn., to help take care of things. Everything, including newly bought school clothes for her daughter, disappeared in the fire, Meister said. Work colleagues had already started a fund, she said.

Thanks to firefighters, two soggy cats and a guinea pig were rescued from her apartment four hours after she made it out. Like Kuntz, she's trying to move forward.

"You have to put the pieces of the puzzle back together again," Kuntz said.

Staff writers Daarel Burnette II and Anthony Lonetree contributed to this report. David Chanen • 612-673-4465