By Shannon Fiecke, Correspondent

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

Unconscious when firefighters carried him from the building, Arthur Hussey was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where he was later taken off life support and died at 6:24 a.m. Tuesday.

Hussey’s fiancée, Jessica Sobotta, was able to make it out of the four-unit complex, as did a pair of upper-level tenants. She was treated and released from St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee, along with a mother and daughter who lived in the other downstairs apartment. They had to be rescued through a window because the common stairwell was too hot and filled with smoke and gas fumes. 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., about 2:15 a.m. Monday, apparently by a man who lived on the second floor.

Sobotta, who appears to have been sleeping in the living room, separately from Hussey, vaguely remembers somebody yelling there was a fire and to get out. Once she made it outside, she realized Hussey wasn’t with her. Police restrained her from rushing back in after him, Sobotta’s mother Dawn said she was told by police.

It’s unclear who woke Sobotta.

As firefighters arrived, police were pulling a girl out of the other lower-level unit.

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

Investigators told Dawn Sobotta that the upstairs tenant was awake at the time of the fire and he heard something slam, causing him to look into the entryway and see smoke billowing from her daughter's apartment. The man called 911 about 2:15 a.m.

Hussey had been sleeping in the bedroom, but firefighters found him at the entrance of an office in the apartment, Dawn Sobotta said she was also told.

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

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, who had a 10-month-old son, Arthur Jr., from a previous relationship, lived in Minneapolis with his friend Stephen Streeter before moving in with Sobotta a few months ago. The couple would often spend the weekends in Minneapolis.

Hussey grew up in Indiana and moved to the Twin Cities about 10 years ago, Streeter said. He 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.

Despite being legally blind, Hussey was always there for anybody who needed him, said Streeter, who was a fatherly figure to Hussey.

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

Sobotta, who has struggled to eat and sleep since the night of the fire, considered Hussey her soul-mate.

She said he was free-spirited person, probably the most open-minded man she’s ever known, and very loyal to those he loved.

"He really loved life even though we all have our problems," she said. "I just really miss him very much."

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

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

 

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 [1].