March 21--A house fire Wednesday morning in south Minneapolis has left one person dead and another severely injured, according to authorities.
The blaze broke out about 6 a.m. at a three-story home at 3500 Harriet Av. S. and was quickly knocked down, fire officials said.
Fire crews used a ladder to bring down two people from the home's second story, said Assistant Fire Chief Cherie Penn. One other person who lives at the three-story house was not home at the time, Penn said.
When firefighters arrived on scene, they found the front porch fully engulfed in flames, and the fire was stretching all the way to the third floor, Penn said.
When they entered, the person who died was discovered and then the second victim, who was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center in critical condition, the assistant chief said.
The person hospitalized is Sadie Norlin, 27, according to HCMC.
The identities of those who lived in the home were not immediately available. Arson investigators examined the front porch for hours after the fire was extinguished. The cause remains under investigation.
Neighbor Jill Krieger said she had been worried about the property before the fire.
"Obviously, whoever rents it out, rents it to young kids and it's not the kids' fault, but the owner never keeps the sidewalk [clear]. I've called 311 about it," she said.
The property was cited last fall as a nuisance property for tires, scrap wood, plastic containers, paper, bottles and random debris piled on the south and west yards of the house.
No one from the house was immediately available for comment. A group of people standing in the backyard Wednesday morning declined to comment.
Shortly before the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, the home was the subject of a raid by authorities as part of a preemptive strike against disruptive protests of the GOP gathering. The raid was one of several across the Twin Cities that targeted self-described anarchists leading up to the convention.
Paul Walsh --612-673-4482
Matt McKinney --612-673-7329
Copyright 2012 - Star Tribune, Minneapolis
