Man dies from Shakopee apartment fire

By Shannon Fiecke

The 26-year-old man who was rescued from a burning apartment in Shakopee early Monday morning has died.

Arthur Hussey was spending the night at his girlfriend’s place when the apartment caught fire around 2 a.m. The Minneapolis man was carried from the building by emergency personnel and airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died at 6:24 a.m. Tuesday.

Hussey, who had a 10-month-old son, Arthur, Jr., from a previous relationship, lived in Minneapolis.

Despite being legally blind, he was always there for anybody who needed him, his friend Stephen Streeter said.

"He had a big heart," Streeter said. "He was a pretty giving person."

Hussey’s girlfriend made it out of the four-unit complex by herself, as did a pair of upper level tenants. She was treated and released from St. Francis Regional Medical Center, along with a mother and daughter from the other downstairs bedroom. They were rescued through a window because the common stairwell was too hot and smoke-filled. A resident who lived in the fourth unit wasn’t home at the time.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the state fire marshal.

Emergency responders were called to the building, which is at 2077 12th Ave. W., at 2:19 a.m. Monday.

Home video from a neighbor shows flames shooting out the windows of the lower level apartment as Shakopee firefighters and police scurried about the scene.

When firefighters first arrived, police were pulling a girl out of the other lower unit.

"We ended up going in and getting the mother out of that apartment," Fire Chief Ed Schwaesdall said.

Rescue efforts were too late to save Hussey, who died from smoke inhalation and burns, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Hussey grew up in Indiana and moved to the Twin Cities about 10 years ago to live with his mom and stepdad. He had worked for a chrome plating company in Northeast Minneapolis until his failing sight forced him to quit two years ago.

He inherited a genetic eye condition and his sight started deteriorating when he was about 22, Streeter said.

Streeter said his stepson was a fan of rap music, and loved the Minnesota outdoors, fishing and doing stunts on his trick bike.

He was working with a society for the blind in Minneapolis to learn new skills.

"He was making the transition from being a sighted to legally blind person pretty good because he was so strong," Streeter said.

Hussey’s memorial service is being arranged through the Cremation Society of Minnesota.

Deadly fires

Hussey was the third person to die from a series of weekend fires in the metro area.

Fires in St. Louis Park left one man dead and sent three people to the hospital. According to news reports, the cause of the deadly fire is unknown, while the other was likely from unattended food on the stove.

Another fire in Brooklyn Park, which probably started in a water cooler, killed one man and left his wife hospitalized.

— Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.