Officials: Fire at Minneapolis building containing apartments, pub kills 3 adults, 3 kills

Fire above Minneapolis pub kills 3 adults, 3 kills

MINNEAPOLIS — Investigators were trying to pinpoint the cause of a fire that gutted a building containing several apartments and an Irish pub, killing three adults and three children. Friends and family feared the victims were a bartender and several of his girlfriend’s relatives.

The blaze broke out early Friday in one of six apartments above McMahon’s Pub, Assistant Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel said. Firefighters arrived shortly after 6 a.m. to find heavy flames and smoke pouring from the two-story building, where the roof eventually collapsed.

The residential portion of the building was due for an inspection, Fire Marshal Bryan Tyner said.

Authorities found eight violations during a fire code inspection March 15 on the building’s commercial part. Among them, the pub’s fire alarm system hadn’t been tested in more than a year and there weren’t enough fire extinguishers, Tyner said.

The owners were given until March 30 to fix the violations. Tyner said his office hadn’t yet gone back to see if changes had been made.

One of the victims, a woman, died at a hospital early Friday and the bodies of two men and three children were later recovered from the building, city and fire officials said. Authorities said they did not expect to find more victims.

While authorities did not immediately identify the victims, the bartender’s girlfriend said her mother, her brother and his three young children had been visiting the bartender, Ryan Richner, on Thursday night. Richner lived in an apartment above the bar.

Champagne Gervais, 25, said her brother’s car remained in the pub’s parking lot Friday.

“They were all beautiful people,” she said before breaking down sobbing as she watched crews sift through the rubble.

Richner’s mother said she spoke with the medical examiner’s office and also believed her son was among the dead.

“It’s not confirmed, but it’s pretty much confirmed. We know,” Denise Schmidt said during a phone interview from Long Prairie, about 100 miles north of Minneapolis.

“Everybody loved him. He was always happy and he was always the life the party,” she said of her son, her voice breaking. “A lot of people are going to miss him.”

The Twin Cities chapter of the American Red Cross was helping eight adults and five children displaced by the fire, spokeswoman Carrie Carlson said. She said the group would put them up in a hotel for the weekend, help them replace medications and provide food and clothing.

She said two psychologists were at the scene to help.

Associated Press writers Chris Williams and Amy Forliti in Minneapolis and Brian Bakst in St. Paul contributed to this report.