Woman dead following Robbinsdale apartment fire
ROBBINSDALE, Minn. — Authorities in the northwest metro are investigating a fire that killed one resident and caused the evacuation of multiple others Tuesday morning.
According to Robbinsdale Police Captain John Elder, officers and firefighters responded at around 5:18 a.m. to the report of a possible apartment fire on the 4300 block of Robbins Landing.
When responders arrived, they saw heavy smoke coming from the apartment and also filling the hallways. Elder says due to the thick smoke, officers were initially unable to gain entry to the affected apartment unit on the third floor. Officers were able to evacuate the rest of the apartment building.
"Total darkness, even with flashlights," Elder said. "Officers opened the door and it was literally a black wall of smoke."
Firefighters were eventually able to take the lone occupant, a woman, out of the apartment unit. Emergency aid was provided with assistance from paramedics, but the victim later died.
Elder says cold temperatures and many of the residents being elderly made addressing the fire difficult.
The fire was contained to the unit on the third floor, but multiple other units sustained water damage.
It's too early in the investigation to know the cause of the fire, Elder says, but investigators are "pinpointing certain areas in the apartment where it appeared it may have been started."
Authorities are working on identifying the victim and notifying her next of kin.
"There's no good time to have this happen, but especially as people come into the holidays, there's going to be somebody's grandmother, somebody's mother isn't going to be sitting with them during the holidays," Elder said.
