By Jane Friedmann and Masako Hirsch, staff writers

A three-alarm fire in Northeast Minneapolis that sent five firefighters and a resident to the hospital Sunday afternoon was caused by a gas leak, fire department officials said.

Fire crews responded to reports of an explosion and a fire at 2321 Fillmore St. NE yesterday at around 3 p.m., according to Deputy Chief Perry Ebner. He said Monday that it was caused by a gas leak in the furnace area in the basement of the house.

Medics evaluated one resident for possible burns and took him to a local hospital. He remained there Monday afternoon, Ebner said.

Friedmann, a reporter who lives almost a half mile away from the scene, observed the fire's far-flung effects.

Friedmann was blissfully assembling a jigsaw puzzle when a smoky smell invaded her concentration and allowed her brain to inform her that sirens had been wailing continuously for quite some time. Smoke was billowing over the houses across the street and clouding the front yard.

ALL, Star Tribune

When she took to her bike and found the fire she was surprised to see that it was a good five blocks away, and downhill at that. By the time she arrived flames had been tamped down and the air-particulate meter had maxed out.

Read an earlier report here.

In this picture, onlookers standing across the street from the fire encountered near-zero visibility at times. Temperatures hovered near 90 degrees.

Photo by Jane Friedmann.

Firefighters worked in shifts because of the heat. Here they prepared to take a hose into the house. Minutes later water sprayed forcefully out of a second-floor window.

Five firefighters who were hospitalized for heat stroke have since been released, Ebner said.

Photo by Jane Friedmann.

When crews arrived Sunday, they found fire in the basement, first and second floors of the house. The blast from the leak also pushed out a section of the exterior wall in the back of the house.

Aubrey McDowell, who lives two houses away, snapped this picture from her second floor window while firefighters in the backyard assessed the situation. The house in the foreground next to the fire-damaged house is posted vacant.

Photo by Audrey McDowell, special to the Star Tribune.