Overview
- The fire was reported around 1:15–1:30 a.m. Friday at the Willoway Apartments in Burnsville, Minnesota, prompting a multi-department response.
- Two residents—O'Neal, 72, and his wife, Cynthia—were transported to a local hospital, and a third person was treated and released at the scene.
- Cynthia said she saw a “bubble of fire” on the cord of O'Neal’s oxygen machine and a separate floor blaze that spread to a mattress as they evacuated.
- O'Neal had returned home only hours earlier after nearly two weeks in the ICU on life support for rare bacterial pneumonia and an enlarged heart, and he was kept for lung tests before being released later Friday.
- Four units were deemed uninhabitable, the cause remains under investigation, and the couple are staying with family while they plan next steps.