Mpls. Clinic Goes Up In Flames

By Holly Wagner, WCCO-TV and Reg Chapman, WCCO-TV

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A fire damaged a Minneapolis clinic early Wednesday morning.

The fire broke out at the Bloomington Lake Clinic on the 3000 block of Bloomington Avenue South just before 3 a.m.

"This has been a clinic that has been here forever. It's a neighborhood staple," said Ann Thompson, a former employee.

Flames were seen on the roof of the building, and firefighters said the flames appeared to be trapped between the ceiling and the roof of the building. Crews were briefly evacuated while fighting the flames, for fear the roof would collapse.

Six adults and two children were evacuated from nearby house, because of the amount of smoke that was too overpowering.

"With the fire advancing the way that it was, we just wanted to go ahead and get them out of there," said assistant fire chief Cherie Penn.

The Red Cross was on the scene to assist those two families.

Jim Price, who has been a patient at the clinic, said he was concerned about the status of his medical records.

"A lot of times, they're handwritten," he said. "I don't think any paper file is going to survive this."

The clinic's administrator assured that most of the records are kept on computer systems.

A number of employees began arriving at the scene during the morning hours. They said they are devastated by the loss. The Bloomington Lake Clinic is run by a group of doctors, and has been a neighborhood institution since 1930.

"The people are committed. It's a very committed group of employees and staff  and physicians and one of the few privately owned clinics that's still around in the Twin Cities," Thompson said.

The clinic has a second location in Bloomington, Minn. Together, they serve 50,000 patients. They've been trying to get all scheduled appointments from the Minneapolis location booked for their appointments over in Bloomington.

"It's going to be very sad for the patients because many of them will find it hard to get to the satellite office," Thompson said.

The cause of the fire still isn't known. Investigators hadn't entered the building as of noon Wednesday because there were still hot spots. The intersection of Lake and Bloomington was also closed throughout the morning and into the afternoon.

No firefighters were reported hurt.

"People are just so committed to this clinic and this area that it's going to be real loss," Thompson said.

She just hopes the people who were so committed to care will be just as committed to rebuild.

"You just pick up the pieces and move on," she said. "I know they will."