Investigators: MN Fire That Killed Two Was Arson

Minneapolis fatal fire
Minneapolis firefighters battled a structure fire in a residential apartment building on the 1500 block of 11th Avenue S. in August. (AARON LAVINSKY / The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Paul Walsh
Star Tribune
(TNS)

Minneapolis fire investigators said Monday that an apartment building fire that claimed two lives last summer was intentionally set.

The blaze broke out around 9:40 p.m. on Aug. 13 inside the four-story building in the 1500 block of 11th Avenue S. Fire officials said at the time they were looking at arson as a potential cause.

Assistant Fire Chief Melanie Rucker followed up Monday in a statement saying “the cause of this fire is incendiary/intentional.”

No arrests have been announced in connection with the case.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Debbie Leshelle Allen, 59, and Kerry Sims, 66, but the Examiner’s Office has yet to address a cause or manner for either death.

Rucker added that the fire originated in the interior rear entrance and extended upward in the stairwell to the roof.

Dozens of residents were displaced by the blaze. Some hung out of third-floor windows seeking to breathe, the blaze still raging, as they called for help. Fire crews initially ended their search with no fatalities recorded.

But two days later, fire officials were alerted that one resident was unaccounted for. Fire crews were directed to a fourth-floor unit and found a man’s body there. Later that day, the Fire Department disclosed that a second body was found on the same floor.

©2024 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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