Another child, a 12-year-old girl, dies after house fire in Mankato area

NORTH MANKATO, MINN. – A 12-year-old girl has died Monday after a Friday house fire, the North Mankato Fire Department said Monday.

Autumn Paulson died from injuries she sustained in the fire on Friday morning, Fire Chief James Zwaschka said in a statement.

Her mother, Stefanie Scharbach, 41, was also home and injured in the blaze. She was treated for smoke inhalation and has been released from the hospital, Zwaschka said.

Autumn was a student at Dakota Meadows Middle School. Mankato Area Public Schools is providing additional mental health resources, including school counselors, psychologists and social workers, a statement from the school district said.

First responders arrived at the house fire at 524 Lyndale Av. around 5:30 a.m. on Friday. They found heavy flames and smoke coming from the second story of the house, a statement said.

They evacuated four others from the house with no injuries. Autumn and her mother both suffered severe burns.

One dog was also found dead and another is missing after the fire, Zwaschka said.

Friday marked the latest in a series of dangerous fires in the Mankato area recently.

Late last month, two children died and their mother was injured in a duplex fire in Mankato’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. Another child and a man escaped without injury, as did the residents of the first floor. The mother, Deanna Lenzen, is at “home and recovering,” according to an online fundraiser.

Last week, members of the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity house in Mankato had to evacuate their chapter house as they slept because of a suspected arson fire. Mitchell John Thompson, 32, was charged with first-degree arson, a felony, in connection with the fire.