The fire that tore through Anne Armstrong’s Eden Prairie townhouse in the 6200 block of Saint John’s Drive near Baker Road last month was swift and devastating. Armstrong and her 6-year-old daughter, Gabriela Evans, escaped with their lives but not much more.
Armstrong was sitting on her couch at about 10 p.m. on July 21 while Gabriela slept upstairs. The fire caught her eye outside her kitchen window, and she discovered the wooden wall separating her patio from her neighbor’s engulfed in flames.
“I go in to grab her, and inside the curtains are already melting off the window, and the screens were on fire,” Armstrong recalled.
All the residents of the four-unit townhouse building, including Armstrong and her daughter, managed to escape safely when the fire broke out. However, her townhouse and another unit suffered severe damage from the flames, while the remaining two units sustained water damage.
“The fire was pretty much contained to mine and my neighbor’s townhouse,” she said. “It didn’t even spread around to the front of my townhome. Just the side.”
Each of the four townhouses had a garage stall, and the fire destroyed all of them. “Only a couple of us had our cars in there,” Armstrong noted. “I lost my car, and my car exploded. It had a full tank of gas. I was like, ‘What a waste of $45’ because I had just filled up the car that morning.'”
Armstrong and two other neighbors said they believe the fire began due to an unattended fire pit on a deck of the other unit that was severely damaged. The individual living in the unit severely damaged alongside Armstrong’s did not respond to a voicemail message seeking comment.
However, Fire Chief Scott Gerber emphasized that the investigation was ongoing.
“There’s a number of factors that could contribute to the fire,” Gerber said. “I’m not going to say what (Armstrong) said is inaccurate, but I can’t tell you that’s the cause. I think people are quick to make judgments with things. I can see why, based on a number of factors that happened that night … I think it’s important that we don’t jump to conclusions until we know for sure.”
Armstrong’s reaction to the tragedy has been resilient.
“We had three, maybe five minutes of crying time,” she said. “But lemons out of lemonade. This is a really long road I’m taking to get the new carpet I needed. I needed new carpeting in the basement, and they ripped it all out. So I will get new carpet in the basement.”
The fire’s impact was more profound for Armstrong than the immediate damage. The townhouse was the first home she purchased, and her dream car, a 2022 Jeep Compass Trailhawk, was destroyed in the garage stall.
“I factory built that car with every single option I wanted,” she said. “It was hopes and dreams and milestones lost in that house.”
Armstrong said the fire didn’t significantly damage her belongings, but the smoke and water did.
“There was such a putrid smell when opening that door (to her townhouse),” she said. “It was so gross. Everything is waterlogged and smoked. The upstairs rooms.”
Her sister-in-law established a GoFundMe page to aid Armstrong and Gabriela. Armstrong, usually a giver, said, “It’s a little odd to be in this accepting phase of donations and gifts and attention, but it’s wonderful.”
Armstrong said her daughter is doing OK. “She gets pretty sad when she realizes her little lovies and stuffies that she’s had since before she was even born are all gone,” Armstrong said.
The two are staying with family in Chanhassen until they can figure out the next steps.
Gabriela, who turned 6 in June, attended Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion for kindergarten. “We definitely want to keep her in her school through all of this,” she said. “Try to keep everything as normal as possible for her.”
The incident is Eden Prairie’s fifth significant fire since April. Fire Chief Gerber shared advice on fire safety, emphasizing prevention efforts, smoke detectors, escape plans, and caution with cooking and smoking materials. He urged residents to remember that “unattended cooking causes issues.”
Related story: Learn about Mary Almeida’s quick response to help the Armstrongs and the other neighbors affected by the fire.
Comments
We offer several ways for our readers to provide feedback. Your comments are welcome on our social media posts (Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn). We also encourage Letters to the Editor; submission guidelines can be found on our Contact Us page. If you believe this story has an error or you would like to get in touch with the author, please connect with us.