5 dead, 3 hurt in ‘devastating’ Minneapolis high-rise fire

 Five people died when a fire broke out on the 14th floor of a public housing high-rise in a heavily immigrant neighborhood of Minneapolis early Wednesday, with one city official describing the aftermath as “horrendous.”

The cause of the blaze in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood wasn’t immediately known.

Abdi Warsame, a City Council member who toured the floor that burned, expressed amazement that more people weren’t killed, according to The Associated Press (AP).  

Three other people were injured and are being treated at local hospitals; their conditions weren’t immediately known. A firefighter suffered a minor injury.

The fire broke out around 4 a.m. on the 14th floor of the Cedar High Apartments. Fire Chief John Fruetel said firefighters found heavy smoke on the 16th and 17th floors as residents were evacuated through the building’s stairwells.

Though the building sits in a heavily Somali section of Minneapolis, it’s a melting pot of newer arrivals in the city.
Four of the victims were located on the 14th floor and another in a stairwell, and it was unknown if any of them were related or came from the same unit, fire spokesman Bryan Tyner said.