Early Morning Fire At Rochester Apartment

Rochester, MN (KROC AM News) - A kitchen fire in a Rochester apartment early Saturday sent residents outside until the smoke cleared.

Rochester Fire Department crews were sent to Meadow Park Apartments at 1430 4th Ave SE around 4:15 AM and found heavy smoke on the second floor of the building and an evacuation in progress.

They entered the unit where the smoke was coming from and found an unattended cooking fire had burned itself out. They ventilated the building to remove smoke and other toxic gases to ensure that residents could reoccupy their homes.

The occupants of the fire apartment were evaluated and released by medical personnel on-scene. RFD says there was fire damage to the stove, range hood, wall and cabinets

RFD says cooking is by far the leading cause of structure fires in Minnesota with almost half blamed on cooking.