VIRGINIA, Minn. — Two Virginia police offers were injured early Thanksgiving Day in a structure fire that claimed the life of an apparently suicidal man, according to a release from the Iron Range city’s police department.

Officers were dispatched at about 4:55 a.m. Thursday to respond to a man threatening to burn down a building with himself inside. When they arrived, they found the apartment on fire, and officers could not persuade the individual to leave the building before the structure was engulfed in flames. The man was later located deceased inside the apartment.

One of the two officers was treated for smoke inhalation and released, but the other suffered severe burns to multiple parts of his body.

Fire departments from Virginia, Mountain Iron, Fayal and Gilbert, as well as the Eveleth EMS and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department assisted on the scene.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and state fire marshal’s office are investigating the incident.

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