Five people are dead and at least four others were injured in a high-rise fire in near downtown Minneapolis early Wednesday.
The 4 a.m. two-alarm blaze, in the 600 block of Cedar Avenue South, broke out in the building’s 14th floor, according to Minneapolis fire officials.
Heavy smoke had also spread to the 16th and 17th floors, authorities said.
The blaze had a “pretty good head start” by the time firefighters were called, according to Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel.
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“It had been burning for a while,” Fruetel said.
The victims were not immediately identified.
“(It was) a very tragic night at the beginning of a holiday weekend,” Fruetel said.
One person could not use the staircase to escape and had to be rescued from an elevator on the 13th floor, officials said. Among the injured was a responding firefighter, the city’s fire chief said.
The fire was brought under control at about 6 a.m. , the department tweeted.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. This happened in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, located in a part of Minneapolis called Little Mogadishu for the many Somali immigrants who live there.
Minneapolis is currently facing a winter storm warning, as the region is pummeled with snow.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
Associated Press contributed.
