A man was killed in a house fire Friday afternoon in Minneapolis, and investigators were working to determine what started the blaze.
Minneapolis firefighters responded a little before 1 p.m. to reports of a fire in a two-story house at 4804 12th Av. S. They found heavy smoke coming from the first floor and chimney, fire officials said in a news release.
On Saturday, the man was identified as Edward Joseph Stack, 83, by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office. His death was considered an accident, the result of the “inhalation of products of combustion,” according to a statement from the office.
According to officials, crews had a hard time entering the home, locating the flames and laying hose lines because personal items and debris blocked the front and rear entrances.
Crews located the victim on the first floor and carried him out. The man, who according to neighbors lived alone, was declared dead at the scene. No one else was inside, Assistant Fire Chief Melanie Rucker said.
The fire spread to all floors of the house and through the roof, forcing crews to attack it from outside. A fire truck extended a ladder over the top of the fire to shoot water through a hole in the roof, and firefighters on the ground shot water through a second-story window.
