{"id":520080,"date":"2026-03-24T12:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/520080\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T12:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T12:52:12","slug":"preliminary-findings-revealed-in-jessi-pierce-fatal-fire-ruling-out-arson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/520080\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Preliminary findings’ revealed in Jessi Pierce fatal fire, ruling out arson"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota fire that killed NHL reporter Jessi Pierce<\/a> and her three children is not being labeled an arson case, according to the White Bear Lake fire department.<\/p>\n

Pierce, 37, and her three children, Cayden, Hudson and Avery, died in a house fire Saturday in White Bear Lake, Minn., and the cause of the fire is still being determined.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the very early stages of the investigation, and our preliminary findings have not led to the any evidence that the fire was set intentionally,\u201d the department said in a release<\/a> Monday. \u201cOur priorities are, first and foremost, being present for those directly affected by this tragedy, conducting a thorough investigation, and ensuring our first responders involved in this incident heal alongside the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessi Pierce covered the Wild. Jessi Pierce\/X<\/p>\n

The fire department said<\/a> it received a call at 5:26 a.m. Saturday morning from neighbors regarding a fire at a single-family home located on Richard Avenue.<\/p>\n

The neighbors noticed fires coming from the roof and told the police they believed people were inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon arrival, crews found a fully involved structure fire and immediately began fire suppression efforts,\u201d an initial press release from Sunday stated.<\/p>\n

The fire department said it found four people \u2014 one adult and three children \u2014 and one dog inside the residence, and all were dead.<\/p>\n

Pierce\u2019s children were 4, 6 and 8 years old, according to The Minneapolis Star Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlongside the Minnesota State Fire Marshal\u2019s Office, we are dedicating all possible resources to this investigation,\u201d Monday\u2019s press release stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jessi Pierce, a beloved sports reporter who covered the Minnesota Wild, is identified as the woman who died in the White Bear Lake house fire on Saturday. FOX9<\/p>\n

Pierce covered the Wild for NHL.com for the last 10 seasons, and covered the NHL for multiple outlets across the years.<\/p>\n

One day before the fatal fire, she shared a photo on X of an ice cream run with her children<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She is reportedly survived by her husband, Mike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Minnesota Wild organization is heartbroken by the tragic loss of Jessi Pierce and her children,\u201d the Wild said in a release<\/a>. \u201cJessi was a kind, compassionate person that cared deeply about her family and those around her. She served as a dedicated ambassador for the game of hockey during her time covering the Wild and the NHL. Jessi and her children will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to their family, friends, and all who knew and loved them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessi Pierce and her children. Jessi Pierce\/X<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Michael Russo, who also covers the Wild, wrote a glowing message in honor of Pierce on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no words to express how heartbroken we all are,\u201d he posted to X. \u201cJessi Pierce (Hinrichs) was the most vibrant person \u2013 the life of the party, always with a smile on her face, always bringing a passion to every article and podcast and interview she did. Jessi simply loved covering the Wild and hockey throughout Minnesota and had a way of brightening everyone\u2019s day with her upbeat, bubbly personality. I have literally NEVER met anybody that had a way of being EVERYBODY\u2019s friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything, she absolutely loved Hudson, Cayden and Avery and was the greatest mother who did everything she could to bring joy to her sweetest kids. Even at Friday\u2019s practice in her beloved Iowa State sweatshirt, she was so excited to take them to the seasonal opening of Cup and Cone in WBL. Seeing those precious pics yesterday, she provided them with another incredibly fun and loving day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota fire that killed NHL reporter Jessi Pierce and her three children is not being labeled an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[7911,12046,5,161,38,5280,4,43,353,3612,162],"class_list":["post-520080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-wild","tag-death","tag-fires","tag-hockey","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-minnesotawild","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-sports-entertainment","tag-sports-media","tag-wild"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116284250426777745","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}