Fire in Duluth's Greysolon Plaza displaces resident, sends smoke through apartment

Fire crews contained a Friday evening blaze at Duluth’s Greysolon Plaza to one eighth-floor apartment, but not before smoke sent one resident to the hospital and left another without a home.

The fire broke out at 231 E Superior St., in the former Hotel Duluth building that now operates as Greysolon Plaza. The entire eighth floor was evacuated while firefighters worked the scene, and a portion of Superior Street was closed during the response before reopening after the area was secured.

One resident was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Another was displaced because of fire-related water damage, and the American Red Cross helped that resident after the fire. Most other residents were allowed back into their units once crews had knocked down the flames and confirmed the fire had stayed in a single apartment.

Greysolon Plaza is one of downtown Duluth’s most familiar landmark buildings. Completed in 1925, it now houses 150 one-bedroom apartment homes in addition to event space, making it both a residential property and a visible part of the city’s historic core. The quick response mattered in a building where a single apartment fire can spread disruption far beyond the room where it starts, especially when smoke moves through shared halls and upper floors.

The Duluth Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire. That inquiry will determine what sparked the blaze and whether electrical, accidental or other factors were involved.

The same address drew firefighters before. On Jan. 25, 2024, the Duluth Fire Department said crews from Headquarters, Station 4 and Station 2 responded to a fire at Greysolon Plaza that was quickly knocked down. In that incident, two people were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene, damage was estimated at $25,000 to the apartment of origin and $10,000 in hallway smoke damage, and two vehicles drove over a fire hose line, prompting a warning about scene safety.

For tenants in older downtown buildings, the latest fire is a reminder of how much depends on working alarms, fast evacuation and a response that keeps a blaze from getting beyond one unit. In this case, those protections helped prevent a larger emergency in one of Downtown Duluth’s busiest residential buildings.