Other fires this decade in Minneapolis with 3 or more fatalities

November 27, 2019 at 10:55PM
In April 2010, a blaze killed six people in apartments over what was McMahon's Irish Pub at E. Lake Street and 30th Avenue S. A cause was never nailed down. Here, Richard Otken watched his apartment burn and was comforted by Kursten Dahl, who worked as a server at McMahon's.
In April 2010, a blaze killed six people in apartments over what was McMahon’s Irish Pub at E. Lake Street and 30th Avenue S. A cause was never nailed down. Here, Richard Otken watched his apartment burn and was comforted by Kursten Dahl, who worked as a server at McMahon's. (Marci Schmitt — Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Fatal fires

Wednesday's fire at a high-rise apartment building in Minneapolis that left five people dead is at least the fifth involving three or more fatalities since 2010. Here are the others:

• In April 2010, a blaze killed six people in apartments over what was McMahon's Irish Pub at E. Lake Street and 30th Avenue S. A cause was never nailed down.

• On New Year's Day 2014, a fiery explosion killed three people at a small apartment building in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Fire officials suspected a gas leak was responsible.

• In February 2014, five children from the same family died after their north Minneapolis duplex in the 2800 block of Colfax Avenue caught fire. Their father and two other children survived. The cause of the fire was never officially determined, but it appeared to have started near a space heater in the living room.

• In October 2015, three children died in a fire in the 2700 block of Penn Avenue N. in Minneapolis. Their mother had left the children home alone. Investigators concluded the fire originated in an electric stove.

• The city's deadliest fire on record occurred on Jan. 3, 1940, when 19 died in a blaze at the Marlborough Apartment Hotel, 301 E. 16th St.

Paul Walsh

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