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By Jen Boyles in Holidazzled by the lights

Sun., Nov. 22 2009 @ 8:40PM

Photo by Doug Falken

It was your average Saturday evening in downtown Minneapolis last night, drunk groups of vaguely connected people meandering from bar to bar in search of something more exciting than they ever find. Around 11:30 p.m, however -- smack dab in the middle of bar hours and dangerously close to First Avenue -- they got an extra dose of lights and sirens and it wasn't on the dancefloor. The parking ramp at 1st and 9th was filling rapidly with smoke as a car on the 4th floor was aflame.

Pulling into the ramp at the time of the engine fire and not seeing the smoke until already stuck in the construct meant this particular writer was going to leave her car in a burning parking ramp (first time for everything, eh?). Blocking the exit were four full-sized fire trucks filled with firefighters and four supporting police squads. A small crowd gathered near the door of the VIP room and around the corner from the Seville to watch the spectacle.

Just one hour later, however, the scene was cleared and completely devoid of any evidence of a problem (all other cars appearing to be unscathed -- phew) with no injuries reported.