According to a report from KSTP, three children and their mother were rushed taken to the hospital Wednesday after a fire erupted in their Cannon Falls, Minnesota, apartment building.
Fire crews and the Cannon Falls Police Department (CFPD) were dispatched to Cannon Valley Apartments in the 1200 block of First Street North early Wednesday afternoon.
CFPD Chief Jeff McCormick said that officers arrived knowing they would find visible flames from the exterior with kids still inside the apartment. On arrival, a woman told officers she’d cut her arm trying to get the her children out.
As CFPD officers started were breaking windows, they saw two of the children in the living room area. They were removed and taken to waiting ambulances just as firefighters arrived and started working to extinguish the fire.
McCormick said the third child was later found inside and brought to safety. He noted the work of on-scene paramedics and their help with the children.
The ages of the children were not immediately known, but police believe one was less than a year old, the second child was 1 to 2 years old, and the third child was around seven. McCormick said all three were in critical condition, and the mother’s injury appeared to be “pretty significant.” The children were airlifted to another hospital after being taken away by ambulance. No other injuries were reported.
Responders later learned that a fourth child was at school and a fifth was took shelter in a bus outside the home.
The apartment has since been determined to be uninhabitable, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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