UPDATED: Riverview Terrace Home Burns in Fridley

Update (9:15 a.m. Saturday): The fire that struck a riverside Fridley home at 6490 Riverview Terrace NE Friday morning caused $125,000 in damage, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Update (4:45 p.m., Friday): A two-story Fridley home that looks out over the Mississippi River burned Friday morning, with significant damage to at least part of the structure.

Two women and two dogs who live in the house "got out fine," according to Fridley Fire Chief John Berg, adding that no fire fighters from the four departments that responded were hurt. 

Officials suspect an unattended cigarette started the fire, Berg said.

See video and photos by neighbor Robert Foley at a separate post.

The house is at the end of a private drive extending toward the river from the corner of Riverview Terrace NE and Mississippi Place NE.

The emergency call went out at 10:30 a.m., and when firefighters arrived they found flames visible from the main floor of the house's northwest corner.

Exterior vinyl siding on that side of the house melted—burning "like gasoline," Berg said.

The fire fighters battled the fire defensively (from outside the house) until there were enough on hand to rotate teams inside. 

Providing mutal aid—automatic in the case of a structure fire—were crews from Columbia Heights (two engines), St. Anthony (one engine), and Spring Lake Park-Blaine-Mounds View (one engine). The Fridley Fire Department had three engines and a rescue truck at the scene.

Only one fire department vehicle could fit down the private drive, meaning fire fighters had to carry equipment, including an extension ladder, to the site from the street.

Firefighters sprayed water, broke windows, tore off a small roof over a side door, and threw insulation from the upper level of the house.

Berg said the house suffered water damage to the basement walk-out level; heavy damage from both smoke and fire on the main level; and significant smoke damage on the upper level.

A balcony overlooking the river on the upper level was scorched. "Careful of that railing," a firefighter on the ground shouted to another who was dropping armfuls of fiberglass insulation from the balcony.

Fridley Fire Department cleared the scene at about 2:30 p.m., Berg said. When his department left, he said, the residents were getting assistance from Red Cross. The house "cannot be occupied" in its current condition, he said.

By 3 p.m., contractors' vans were choking Riverview Terrace, with work in progress down the residence's private drive.

Was it a big fire? "Big enough," Berg said.

Neighbors and onlookers gathered north of the house to watch the firefighters' progress. Robert Foley took video and photos (). Janet Schiltgen said one of the house's residents gardens extensively on her own property and along the river at the next two properties, including a large apartment building. Birdhouses dotted the yard at a safe distance from the burning house. Schlitgen called them among "the best gardens I've ever seen."

Original post (noon, Friday): A house on the Mississippi River in Fridley suffered significant damage from a fire Friday morning.

Two residents escaped unhurt, according to Fridley Police Officer Robert Stevens. The two elderly women called 9-1-1, he said. 

See video and photos by neighbor Robert Foley at this separate post.

Fire crews from Fridley, Columbia Heights, Spring Lake Park fought the blaze with multiple hose lines and extension ladders they carried down the private road the leads to the house from the corner of Riverview Terrace NE and Mississippi Place NE, just southwest of Mississippi Street NE and East River Road.