Fire in Minneapolis leaves three children dead

Firefighters arrived to battle the two-story blaze at the house near Penn Avenue N shortly before midnight, Minneapolis Fire officials said. There were three children trapped in the flames, two already killed from the fire.

Smith led a group in prayer during a vigil at the house later in the day, the Star Tribune reported. The victim from the was transported by North Memorial ambulance to a local hospital and later died there.

Three children were killed in a fire at 2755 Penn Ave.

The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office is expected to release the victims’ names and their causes of death in the coming days.

Authorities say the oven was left on and open as a way to heat the home as temperatures fell. Fruetel said all three were younger than 7.

“Fire doesn’t discriminate”, Fruetel said.

The home’s owner says the family had just moved in, and the natural gas had not been turned on yet.

The fire took about an hour to extinguish, the Minneapolis Fire Department said.