The Associated Press
LINWOOD, Minn. - One person has died after a fire destroyed a home in Linwood, Minn., early Wednesday morning.
Crews responded to the fire in the 23000 block of Lyons Street around 4 a.m.
At 9:30 a.m., Cdr. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County sheriff's office tweeted "One confirmed death at Linwood fire."
"We have no reason to believe the body is anybody other than the home's occupant, but identification will not be made until it can be confirmed and next of kin notified," Sommer wrote in a statement.
Just after 3 p.m., Sommer tweeted that the processing of the scene was complete and that there were no additional victims. He said the cause of the fire is not known, but it is not considered suspicious.
Originally, the fire chief said they were unsure if anyone was inside of the home at the time of the fire.
Authorities were searching for a woman whose car was found parked outside of the home.
Sommer said the house is a total loss.
Firefighters had to battle the fire from the outside as the second story of the house collapsed.
Authorities say the home was cluttered and in disrepair.
"Fighting the fire was particularly difficult because it appears there was quite a bit of debris or things just kind of stacked along the first floor of the home," Sommer said.
Linwood is north of East Bethel.
(Copyright 2012 by KARE. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)