Fire engulfs Minneapolis apartments

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Firefighters work the scene where a fire engulfed several apartment units in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, in Minneapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. Authorities say at least 13 people have been hurt. 

A billowing fire engulfed a three-story building with several apartments next to a mosque serving the Somali community early Wednesday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals with injuries — some critical — ranging from burns to trauma associated with falls.

An explosion was reported about 8:15 a.m., and within minutes a fire raged through the building, said Robert Ball, a spokesman for Hennepin County Emergency Medical Services. Paramedics, amid sub-zero temperatures, responded to find victims on the ground, some with injuries that suggested they may have fallen multiple stories.

"It's not clear whether people were pushed out of the building from the explosion, or whether they fell or jumped out of windows to escape," Ball said.

No fatalities have been reported, but authorities weren't sure whether any residents were still inside the building. Its roof had partially collapsed, making it too dangerous for firefighters to enter and sweep the premises, said Assistant Minneapolis Fire Chief Cherie Penn.

Penn said 14 people were taken to hospitals, and six were considered to be critically hurt.

Officials said it wasn't immediately clear what caused the fire. CenterPoint Energy spokeswoman Becca Virden said there were no natural gas leaks in the area.

Plumes of thick, whitish-grey smoke could be seen rising from the building Wednesday morning, which has a grocery store on the ground floor and two levels of apartments above it.

Abdikadir Mohamed, whose uncle owns the grocery store, watched the scene in silence, struggling to put his thoughts into words.

"This is bad," he said.

Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel said the fire was essentially out by late Wednesday afternoon. He said none of the fire crew members was hurt, saying they did a great job under "extreme conditions."

Abdi Warsame, a Minneapolis City Councilman-elect for the area, said the victims were members of the city's large Somali community. He called on other residents to come together to support the victims.

A mosque that is next door to the gutted building appeared to escape any obvious structural damage. Abdisalam Adam, the imam at Islamic Civic Society of America & Masjid Dar Al-Hijrah, watched the firefighting efforts and said he was praying for those affected by the fire.

"It's devastating and very sad," he said.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it was monitoring the fire in case the mosque was targeted, said MN-CAIR board member Zuhar Ahmed.