LACROSSE, Wis. – Tenants in 16 walk-up apartments in downtown LaCrosse escaped as fire destroyed a building that housed a street-level Indian restaurant. No one was injured. Battalion Fire chief Jeff Schott surmised the fire began in a basement kitchen. Flames were so intense that the firefighters who first entered the building were forced back. Only one upstairs apartment was occupied. Tenants in neighboring buildings fled unhurt into the freezing early morning. They sat in a city bus to keep warm, having escaped, almost literally, with only the shirts on their backs. They carried out four pet cats. The fire was discovered about 4:15 a.m., Nothing was left of the buildings that housed the Indian Curry House restaurant. The structure collapsed into the street. Other structures in the densely packed 300 block of Fourth street were saved.