Fire at Lake Elmo Shelter Displaces Families, Puts Building's Future in Question

The residents at a Lake Elmo family violence shelter have been displaced, and the Tubman board of directors is contemplating its next steps after a fire late Thursday afternoon that left the building uninhabitable.

No one was injured in the fire, said Lake Elmo Fire Department District Chief Brad Winkels, and no cause of the fire had been determined Thursday evening.

Firefighters responded to the scene around 4 p.m., Winkels said, after two residents smelled smoke in the building, located in the 9600 block of Hudson Boulevard.

Upon arrival, the Lake Elmo fire chief saw smoke showing in the roof and fire venting from the roof in the corner of the L-shaped building, he said.

Nine adult residents, one infant, and four staff members were evacuated from the building, he said. Firefighters had the fire under control around 4:45 p.m., he said.

An investigation into what caused the fire will begin as soon as possible, and probably take several days, Winkler said. Electrical and venting problems are possible causes of the fire, he said, and it does not appear to be suspicious.

The building is uninhabitable and the residents there are being taken to Tubman’s Minneapolis shelter in American Red Cross vans.

Tubman board chairman-elect Eric L. Lipman said it will be a tight fit in the Minneapolis facility, “but we never turn anybody away.”

Board members have been working to secure funding to retrofit the Tubman Center East property at Century Avenue and Larpenteur, formerly a monastery building, but now the need is more urgent, he said.

Tubman is trying to raise several million dollars, and has sought state bonding money to do the building work, he said, which would allow them to house 70 individuals—many more than they can currently house at the Hill Home.

‘”We really need folks who can help to help us because clearly there are many families, these and others, who could benefit from what that facility could offer,” he said.

Beyond emergency housing, the site will also include legal advocacy, chemical and mental health services, nutrition services, job training, financial training and research, he said.

The board had planned to sell the Hill Home property after the new site was up-and-running, he said. Shortly after the fire, he said he was not yet sure what would become of the severely damaged residence.

“We’ve been working hard as a board and community members," he said. "We could really use the help of the community now more than ever because of what has happened here at Hill Home."

Fire departments from Oakdale, Woodbury, Stillwater, Bayport, Mahtomedi and the Lower St. Croix Valley, as well as Lakeview Emergency Medical Services and the Washington County Sheriff’s Department responded to the fire.