Man Recalls Breaking Window, Jumping Out To Escape Apt. Fire
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Some of the most startling images from Wednesday's building fire were those of people jumping out of two-story-high windows to the icy streets below. One man who made the leap got out of the hospital Thursday and spoke with WCCO-TV shortly after.
School bus driver Abdirashid Nur says an explosion and fire woke him up New Year's Day morning.
"The fire, it come everywhere," he said.
The cuts and bandages now on his arm symbolize what he did next. In only his underwear, he busted through glass.
"I hit the window, broke the window" he said, "and jumped out."
From two floors up, he jumped down. He says for 20 minutes he laid on the cold, hard ground. He needed a hand then and says after a night in the hospital, he needs one now.
"We need help, please," he said. "We have nothing. Everything we lose, we need help."
That's why he joined a room packed full of his neighbors to try and come up with a plan to help those who lost their homes on Cedar Avenue and their jobs, as a grocery was on the building's first floor.
"I don't have anything, nothing," Nur said.
A friend loaned him a coat, and he's hoping another will give him a place to sleep.
Nur is grateful he survived, he knows not all of his neighbors did. Firefighters found one of them Thursday in the rubble.
If you'd like to help, the Minneapolis Red Cross is accepting donations from those wishing to assist in relief efforts. A fund has also been set up for fire victims at any Wells Fargo bank.
