Duluth authorities were investigating a fire Saturday afternoon in an apartment tower complex that left a man dead and did $12,000 in damage.
Twenty firefighters from three stations responded to the blaze at the Tri-Towers complex, 222 N. 2nd Av. E. about 4:45 p.m. The 14-story building is part of the Duluth Housing and Redevelopment Authority.
Inside a 13th-floor apartment, they found the man unresponsive and pulled him into the hall to start treating him, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, fire officials said in a statement late Saturday.
The fire was knocked down by the building's sprinkler system and put out by fire crews, officials said. No firefighters were hurt, and the city fire marshal's office was investigating.
A fire at the building in January 2011 led to the death of a 56-year-old man. Authorities said at the time that the man, who was badly burned and taken to St. Paul for treatment, had been smoking on a couch. The building went smoke-free in March 2011.
While firefighters were on the scene of Saturday's fatal blaze, they also responded to a fire at a vacant house nearby. The fire, which started in the basement, reached the first floor and the exterior of the second floor, doing $50,000 in damage.
