Rochester FD: 2 Killed In Apartment Fire

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 25-year-old woman and a 2-year-old girl were killed Thursday night in an apartment fire, according to the Rochester Fire Department.

Officials say the fire started just before 6 p.m. at a fourplex on the 400 block of 27th Street Northeast. Heavy smoke could be seen from as far as four miles away.

Firefighters arrived to find flames shooting from the windows. Crews used a ladder to rescue some residents from a balcony.

Survivors told firefighters about other occupants in a downstairs apartment, and two people were soon found in a back room of that unit. One was pronounced dead at the scene, and another later died at Mayo Clinic St. Mary's Hospital.

Investigators have not pinpointed how the fire started.

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• Rochester