Four of Five Minneapolis Fire Victims Identified

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —  The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office has identified four of the five people who died in a high-rise apartment fire in Minneapolis.

Three of those victims are women and the fourth is a man. The medical examiner’s office says the four died of smoke inhalation when the fire broke out early Wednesday.

The women are 78-year-old Amatalah Adam, 69-year-old Maryan Mohamud, and 67-year-old Nadifa Mohamud. The man is identified as 59-year-old Jerome Stuart.

The name of the fifth victim was not released Wednesday evening, but authorities say all of the people who died were adults.

Three other people were injured and are being treated at local hospitals. Authorities have not released details of their conditions. A firefighter was treated for an exertion-related injury.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel says investigators believe it was an accident.

Fruetel told reporters that the fire on the 14th floor of Cedar High Apartments had been burning for a while when firefighters arrived early Wednesday.

Fruetel says the flames extended 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) out the windows. The chief says it was “an extreme environment of heat and wind-driven fire” and that the flames “burst the glass.”

Firefighters had to go up the stairs while people were coming down. The chief called it “a very chaotic scenario.”