MINNEAPOLIS — Two Minneapolis Police officers rescued a couple from a burning home Tuesday morning near Bde Maka Ska and according to the department, one of them had only been an officer for three days.
Officers Zachery Randall and Jamal Mitchell ran into a home on the 3400 block of East Bde Maka Ska Parkway just before 9 a.m. Tuesday and pulled an elderly couple from the burning building. The department said the two residents were transported to a nearby hospital and Red Cross was called in to assist.
According to Minneapolis Police, Mitchell was recently sworn in and Tuesday was just his third day on the job.
"Cops are not trained to run into burning buildings," said Police Chief Brian O'Hara in a post on the MPD's Facebook page. "The officers ran in and put their lives on the line despite the danger, and saved two of our residents as if they were members of their own family. Today was only Mitchell's third day on the job, and this is exemplary work by both officers. Their quick actions today were heroic, as they prevented this fire from being even more tragic."
Firefighting crews arrived on the scene around 8:45 a.m. and had to take a defensive stance due to the heavy volume of fire consuming the first and second floors of the Minneapolis home. A second alarm was quickly called to summon additional equipment and firefighting personnel as flames spread to the third floor and then the roof. An aerial ladder water tower was deployed to put down the leaping flames.
Images from KARE 11's tower cam showed smoke billowing from the home and filling the sky above the parkway.
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