Daughter Talks About Mom Killed In Vadnais Heights Fire
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Fire officials are still investigating what caused a New Year's Day fire in Vadnais Heights that claimed the life of a woman.
The fire started just after noon Thursday on the 700 block of Berwood Avenue.
Neighbors said the fire spread quickly, moving from room to room before destroying much of the home.
Melissa Nielsen still hasn't gotten over the shock of hearing that her mother Joanne Nielsen was the victim of that fire.
"They told me she had passed. I fell to the floor and couldn't move," Melissa Nielsen said. "When she was younger all she did was go shopping and be with her friends and family. Things like that. She was a fun lady."
Melissa Nielsen said her mother was a talkative and loving person, and had been living in the home for a few years with her boyfriend, Kevin Courneya.
The couple had been dating for 20 years. Courneya wasn't home when the fire started, the victim's daughter said.
"I don't know where he was. I wish he could have been there. Maybe he could have gotten my mom. I don't know what happened," Melissa Nielsen said.
Neighbors said Courneya left to run an errand and when he came back the fire was already spreading.
"There were eight fire trucks, five police cars, this was all barricaded off," neighbor Terri Belden said.
Belden said firefighters worked quickly but couldn't save the woman inside.
"I felt real sad because I knew someone was in there. Because my roommate had talked to the owner of the house and he kept saying, 'I know she's in there. I know she's in there,'" Belden said.
As investigators work to find out what happened, Melissa Nielsen is trying to envision a new year without her mom, and how to explain to her 5-year-old daughter what happened.
"She doesn't quite understand right now. She's sad, but she doesn't quite understand the extremity, I don't think," she said.
The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said they hope to know more about what happened here once they get the medical examiner's report.