A high-rise apartment building in St. Paul that’s home to 1,500 people was evacuated Sunday after a fire damaged the building’s electrical system.

All Skyline Tower residents have been provided temporary lodging, according to information provided by Mayor Melvin Carter’s office on Monday.

The building on St. Anthony Avenue, just off Interstate 94, has 25 floors and 504 apartments. Residents won’t be able to return until essential utilities and safety systems are fully restored.

Temporary lodging is in place through Sunday, Nov. 2.

“Our goal is to have residents back in their homes as quickly as possible, but at this time, we cannot determine an exact date of return,” according to a statement from the mayor’s office.

Firefighters responded to a fire on the building’s 12th floor at 12:23 a.m. Sunday. It had activated the fire alarms and firefighters extinguished it. No injuries were reported.

Building management was notified and arrived at the building. CommonBond Communities, an affordable housing nonprofit that serves low-income communities, manages Skyline Towers.

Seven minutes later, building management contacted the St. Paul Fire Department for immediate help after a 3,000-AMP electrical system on the 12th floor failed. It activated the building’s fire protection sprinklers on the 12th, 13th and 14th floors and caused a complete power outage, according to the mayor’s office.

The power outage disrupted water and heat, and disabled the fire suppression systems, fire alarms and all elevators.

“Because of the complete loss of power and functionality, the building was deemed uninhabitable,” and St. Paul’s Department of Safety and Inspections revoked the building’s certificate of occupancy, the mayor’s office said.

The city and CommonBond coordinated a floor-by-floor evacuation plan. More than 100 residents needed assistance to evacuate due to medical conditions.

Metro Transit provided 11 buses for anyone who needed transportation. Some people left in their own vehicles or arranged rides.

St. Paul officials say they’re continuing to coordinate with CommonBond.

Skyline Tower residents can call the city’s Emergency Housing Support Line for help at 651-564-8570, which will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It offers assistance in English, Somali, Amharic, Oromo, Hmong, Vietnamese and Spanish, and translation services in additional languages can be requested.

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