An early morning fire on Cedar Rapids northwest side killed one man and injured another person.

The Cedar Rapids Fire Department responded to 611 A Ave. NW at 1:45 this morning. The call was for a house fire with people trapped inside. When firefighters arrived flames and smoke were visible from one side and the back of the building.

A neighbor had brought a ladder to the roof of the home, allowing a female to escape the fire. Area Ambulance Service transported 20-year-old Alize Breon Tationa Watson to St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

Firefighters also learned that there was still a man inside. They knocked down flames and entered the first floor before taking the stairway to the second story. Firefighters removed the man from an upstairs bedroom and started medical treatment. He was also taken to St. Luke's, where he was pronounced dead. The Linn County Medical Examiner has identified him as 22-year-old Naquave Whitlock.

An investigation has determined the fire started in the kitchen from a frying pot with grease that had been left unattended on the stove. The fire has determined to be unintentional.

Three people have now been killed in Cedar Rapids fires this year, following the deaths of Ronald Jacobs and his wife, Karen Louise Jacobs, in February and Robyn Furmanski in March.

[via Cedar Rapids Public Safety]

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