Investigators rule arson to blame for Minneapolis building fire that claimed 2 lives

Minneapolis fire investigators said Monday that an apartment building fire that claimed two lives last summer was intentionally set.

The blaze broke out around 9:40 p.m. on Aug. 13 inside the four-story building in the 1500 block of 11th Avenue S. Fire officials said at the time they were looking at arson as a potential cause.

Assistant Fire Chief Melanie Rucker followed up Monday in a statement that “the cause of this fire is incendiary/intentional.”

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Debbie Leshelle Allen, 59, and Kerry Sims, 66, but the Examiner’s Office has yet to address a cause or manner for either death.

Rucker added that the fire originated in the interior rear entrance and extended upward in the stairwell to the roof.

Dozens of residents were displaced by the blaze. Some hung out third-floor windows seeking to breathe, the blaze still raging, as they called for help. Fire crews initially ended their search with no fatalities recorded.

But two days later, fire officials were alerted that one resident was unaccounted for. Fire crews were directed to a fourth-floor unit and found a man’s body there. Later that day, the Fire Department disclosed that a second body was found on the same floor.