ST. CLOUD – Firefighters from several departments responded to a fire overnight at St. Cloud Children's Home.
Crews respond to overnight fire at St. Cloud Children's Home
The campus was sold by the Diocese of St. Cloud last fall, and is vacant and under construction.
April 7, 2021 at 3:13PM
Crews arrived at the south St. Cloud campus just before 3 a.m. Wednesday to find fire in the main office and a few classrooms, according to Steve Wunderlich, deputy chief of operations for St. Cloud Fire Department.
The fire was contained to one building on the campus, which is vacant and under construction, Wunderlich said.
Catholic Charities was a longtime tenant of the property, which was sold by the Diocese of St. Cloud last fall as part of a $22.5 million trust to compensate survivors of clergy sex abuse.
The city's property records show the site is owned by Minnesota Health Real Estate Holdings out of Irvine, Calif.
Catholic Charities relocated its program to a new Sauk Rapids site in December, according to a statement from the organization.
"We are grateful that no client services are currently being offered on the St. Cloud Children's Home property, especially residential services," said Steve Pareja, executive director of Catholic Charities, in the statement.
The St. Cloud school district formerly occupied part of the campus for its Riverwoods School, which serves students whose emotional and behavioral needs require more support and structure than is offered in traditional schools.
The district moved Riverwoods programming to the former CentraCare Recovery Plus building in St. Cloud in February.
The fire's cause and the extent of the damage were unknown as of Wednesday morning, Wunderlich said. No one was hurt in the fire.
Waite Park, St. Augusta and Sauk Rapids fire departments also responded.
Jenny Berg • 612-673-7299
Twitter: @bergjenny
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