Minneapolis Fire Department

! 233 City Hall ! 350 S. 5th St. ! Minneapolis, MN 55415 !

News Release
Contact: Assistant Chief of Administration Chrie A. Penn 612-581-2146 cherie.penn@ci.minneapolis.mn.us

Three alarm fire at 516 Cedar Ave. S.

January 1, 2014 (MINNEAPOLIS) at 8:16 AM, Minneapolis fire crews responded to a report of an explosion at 516 Cedar Ave. S. Upon their arrival they found heavy smoke and fire showing from the second and third floors of a three story building. They also found several victims outside with injuries. Firefighters rescued other victims from the building and made entry on the first floor to combat the blaze. They were able to make some progress on the first floor but had to be evacuated because of the volume of fire and the structural integrity of the building. Fire crews then fought the fire defensively from the exterior. A second alarm was called at 8:22 AM and the third alarm was called at 8:33 AM to get additional firefighters on scene to fight the fire and because of the inclement weather conditions. There were over fifty firefighters on scene to mitigate this incident. At the time of this release, fourteen victims of this incident had been transported to area hospitals. Ten were transported to Hennepin County Medical Center and three to the University of Minnesota. It is unknown where the other victim was transported. The condition of these individuals is not known. The Brian Coyle Center was opened for family and victims of the fire to re-unite and currently remains open. There have not been any other reports of injuries to civilian and no firefighters were injured. The Red Cross and Salvation Army are on scene at the Brian Coyle Center to provide assistance for victims of the fire. The building was last inspected in 2012 and there are no outstanding inspection issues for this building. The Minneapolis Fire Department is unable to determine is everyone made it out of the building and is accounted for. These and other details will be addressed as the investigation proceeds. The cause of the fire is under investigation. PIO contact for this incident is Assistant Chief Chrie A. Penn.
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