Body Found In Debris Of Maple Grove House Fire
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (WCCO) -- Crews have found a body inside a house that burst into flames in Maple Grove Monday morning. They located the body in the ruins just before 11 a.m.
Firefighters say they responded to call at a home on the 9700 block of Union Terrace at about 4 a.m.
"We could see the glow in the sky when we pulled out of the fire station," said one of the firefighters on the scene.
It was described as a quick-moving fire. Crews arrived to find the home fully engulfed.
"At first we saw flames bursting outside the house and within 30 seconds flames over treetops with fire behind us," said neighbor Patrick Hanf, who was awakened by the glow of the flames. "The sound was like a freight train coming and going. You could just hear the strength of the fire."
Firefighters brought in a back hoe to dig through the rubble. Two cars inside the garage were destroyed.
Maple Grove Fire Chief Scott Anderson would not say if the victim was a male or female, but fire crews haven't been able to contact the man living inside the home.
"Generally when there's a fire, someone comes and talks to us, tells us what's going on, no one did that," said Anderson.
Crews haven't said yet what may have caused the fire.
WCCO-TV learned that the home was occupied by one man. It's not clear yet whether the body found in the home was that man.
Anderson said, as far as he knows, Maple Grove has not had a fire fatality in its history.
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