Three-alarm fire rips through building in North Fargo

(Fargo, ND) -- There were no injuries reported after a fire rang out in a North Fargo structure early Wednesday morning.

Fargo Fire Battalion Chief Bruce Anderson says initial calls for the fire came in at around 3:30 a.m, and when crews arrived the scene was full involved.

"It makes things quite a bit harder when you show up and the building has been burning for a while," said Anderson. "We had to set up on all four corners of it and fight it from the outside first before getting a few steps in here or there."

Neighbors in the area say flames shot out of every opening in the building, which had recently been sold by its owner and was known to have giant statues outside it. The structure was nearly empty as of Wednesday morning, according to crews on scene.

This is also not the first time a fire has broken out on the grounds. Anderson says he was a part of the team that responded to a December 2020 fire that took out the front two buildings on the land.

"The silver lining was that we were able to save the contents inside during that fire," said the Battalion Chief. "Luckily there wasn't really anything inside this building this time, but were going to have to tear down the exterior walls to knock out hotspots."

It took firefighters on scene nearly three hours to knock down the major flames that shot out. A cause for the fire does remain under investigation.