2 injured after jumping from 2nd story to escape Minneapolis house fire

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Two people were injured when they jumped from the second floor to escape a fire at a house in Minneapolis early Monday morning. 

The fire started around 12:20 a.m. at a single family home on the 1300 block of 16th Avenue North. Twelve people, including eight children, where in the home at the time. Minneapolis Fire Department officials said the fire started in the basement and quickly spread throughout the house. 

While most of those 12 scrambled out the front and back doors, Leroy Davis was worried about his fiancé’s mom, who was sleeping on the third floor.  

Davis said he ran upstairs to wake her, but quickly realized there was no way to get back down. 

“The fire came up the stairs, so me and my mother-in-law had to jump,” he said. “No other doors. There was no other way out.”

The pair took the leap, plunging awkwardly to the concrete below. Davis broke his arm and his future mother-in-law broke her leg. Fortunately, Davis said, while they are both shaken, they will be okay. 

“[It was] terrifying. Very terrifying,” he said. “Not something we’d like to go through again.” 

Hours after the scare of his life, Davis returned to the house, hurting, but so grateful he and all his loved ones made it out alive. 

“It could have been much worse,” he said. “[I’m] just happy it turned out the way it did.”

The American Red Cross is helping all 12 victims displaced by the fire. 

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.