Duluth firefighters battle propane tank fire

February 20- Duluth firefighters were dispatched around 2:20 this afternoon to a fire at the under construction Essentia Health Vision Northland building in the downtown area. Three propane tanks near the building were involved. Firefighters began spraying water on the three burning tanks while other crews worked to determine if anything else was on fire. The fire did cause some external damage to the outside of the building. No injuries were reported and the Duluth Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire. The area around the building was closed for a number of hours. No damage estimate is available at this time.

Flames erupt from propane tanks located the the Essentia Health’s Vision Northland construction project. Photo: Duluth Fire Department
Duluth fire crews use hose lines to cool down and extinguish three propane tanks involved in the fire at the Essentia Health Northland Vision construction project. Photo by Tom Erchull for The Northland Fire Wire.
A close-up view of one of the propane tanks involved in the fire at Essentia Health construction site. The fire impinged on the outside of the building and caused huge plastic sheets outside of the building to melt and burn. Photo by Tom Erchull for The Northland Fire Wire.