Two and a half years ago, an accidental fire at a broke out at a Minneapolis Public Housing complex killing five people. Public safety officials said the deaths could have been avoided had there been sprinklers throughout the building.
Last month, legislators awarded the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) $2 million for fire suppression systems. The MPHA says the funding will provide 250 residents across five buildings with fire sprinklers. Shirley Brown is one of the 250 residents. Brown, who has lived in Public Housing for 25 years welcomes the upgrade.
"I'll feel much safer knowing its in place," she said while giving a tour of her apartment to Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, who along with Representative Ilhan Omar, secured the federal funding.
Senator Klobuchar joked that "other public housing authorities around the country were jealous that they didn't have their senators getting this kind of funding."
"The loss of life was preventable," she continued, "we know what the cost of inaction is, and we are so pleased with the work we're doing across the state when it comes to these projects."
Executive Director of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, Abdi Warsame, says with the federal funding, the MPHA is on track to meet its goal.
"Installing fire suppression systems in all MPH high rise properties, is a priority for the agency. Back in 2020, we set an ambitious goal of having sprinklers installed in all our high rise buildings within five years. We have also installed carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, along with stovetop fire stop cans in all high rise units."
Warsame, the CEO of Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, says four (out of 42) buildings still need funding for fire suppression systems.
While, $2 million dollars is a milestone, Senator Tina Smith (DFL) says she is working on the Public Housing Fire Safety Act. She says the bill would, "allow buildings all over the country to address the fire suppression needs that we have."
According to Senator Smith, " the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that nearly 200,000 public housing units around the country lack fire sprinklers."
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fire Chief, Bryan Tyner, is calling the progress a win. He says he has been advocating for fire suppression systems in public housing throughout his career.
"Fires in these type of structures can be very complex," he said. "They can be hard to fight because all the things involved and they are also very labor intensive. But these fire sprinkler systems are able to reduce that life safety risk exponentially. We got it done."
