Anniversary of a Fire: A Look Back at the Northwestern National Bank Fire
of November, 1982
Joint Meeting of MN Risk and Insurance Management Society and the Minnesota CPCU Chapter
Held on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Speaker: John DeSanto, CPCU of Keystone Specialty Risk
It has been 30 years since the historic fire involving the Northwestern National Bank on Thanksgiving Day in 1982. Until 9-11, the Northwestern National Bank fire was the largest office fire in U.S. history with over 90 million dollars in damages. This presentation will review the cause of the fire, how the fire involved two buildings (the second building was the soon to be demolished Donaldson’s Department Store), and a timeline of how quickly the fire spread. Lessons learned from the fire and the reasons why it took five years to settle the claim will also be discussed.