2 Children Found Home Alone In Hibbing House Fire, Mother Charged

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 24-year-old woman has been charged with child endangerment after two children were found unattended on the scene of a house fire in Hibbing.

According to the Hibbing Police Department, just before 5 p.m. Tuesday officers went to assist fire officials on the scene of a structure fire on the 2300 block of 4th Avenue East.

When officers arrived they located two children on the scene.

Police learned the kids had been left in the apartment unattended. A neighbor found the two young girls on the sidewalk outside their burning apartment building on Tuesday evening.

The 5-year old told police her younger sister was playing by the stove when some papers caught fire. She was able to get her sister out of the house.

Fire officials said the damage was confined to the kitchen.

The mother, Kenya Shamekia Perteet, was located and arrested.

She told police she could not find anyone to watch her 2- and 5-year-old daughters when she went to her job at a nursing home.

Perteet was charged with two counts of child endangerment. She is currently being in St. Louis County Jail.