In the ultimate of ironies, water prevented firefighters from getting water to a burning downtown block Saturday night.

It was the latest assault on the soul of Grand Forks. Residents survived an April ice storm, power outage and brutal blizzard. When the dikes collapsed, people assumed it was the final indignity.

But the 4-foot floodwaters lapping at the buildings in downtown Grand Forks delivered yet another blow.

Firefighters were forced to watch buildings burn Saturday night because floodwaters prevented them from dousing the buildings.

"Flames were about 25 feet high," according to Rex Sorgatz, who was evacuated from his second-floor apartment at 111Ë North Third St.

Deputy Fire Chief Peter O'Neill said at 7:30 p.m. Saturday that the entire 100 block of North Third Street was on fire. "Everything on that block with the Security Building is in trouble," O'Neill said.

St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Tim Nelson said at 8 p.m. he could see fires burning in three downtown locations. "There's a thick black smoke," said Nelson, who was walking through the downtown area. Sparks from the Security Building appeared to cause fires on adjoining blocks, he said.

At about 4:15 p.m., a fire was reported in the pink brick building at 100 North Third St., which houses Boxing Inc., the state chapter of the American Diabetes Association and other businesses.

"We originally got close enough to start a fire attack," Fire Chief Dick Aulich said, but more than 4 feet of water in the street stymied the fight. A diesel engine pumper was sucking street water into the engine, Aulich said. So the Fire Department called the U.S. Forest Service from Brainerd, Minn., for help.

At about 7:15 p.m., a plane dropped a bright-red chemical retardant on the fire. The plane arrived at about 6:50 p.m., but the pilot couldn't make the initial chemical drop until firefighters evacuated downtown residents who'd ignored the mayor's order to leave the area because of high floodwaters.

A shivering O'Neill returned to the Fire Department after standing in the chilly water for three hours. "Our interest was in trying to get the people out of the other buildings," O'Neill said, so firefighters couldn't focus their efforts on containing the fire that spread to the old downtown buildings.

Conflicting reports emerged from the scene about precisely which buildings were burning. The Security Building was destroyed by 7 p.m., O'Neill said. He reported a fire all along the block, which included the Grand Forks Herald building. Other buildings that were in trouble were the former Griggs Landing bar, an adjacent apartment building and Handy Mail, which is owned by the Herald.

"I was hesitant to leave at first," said Sorgatz, a 24-year-old UND student. He bought water and food and planned to remain in his apartment throughout the flood. "I was in the evacuation area for over 24 hours," Sorgatz said.

But he was given five minutes to pack a bag and vacate his apartment building. "The firemen pounded on the door and were telling me to leave," Sorgatz said. Once he got outside, he saw the flames lapping through the Security Building. "There was a boat that picked me up and took me to a Humvee a block away." The National Guard drove Sorgatz to UND, where he planned to spend the night.

While Sorgatz was safely at UND, Nelson reported he saw repeated chemical drops in the downtown area between 7:15 and 8 p.m.

"It was a long battle," O'Neill said, adding that he's never fought a fire under such difficult conditions. The surplus of water on the ground blocked the firefighters from getting water to the burning buildings. They had trouble moving their fire trucks through the standing river water and they were forced to siphon water off the streets to fill their hoses. Pressure in the fire hydrants is so low that firefighters couldn't use city water to battle the blaze.