{"id":523457,"date":"2026-03-26T08:55:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/523457\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:55:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:55:34","slug":"investigators-release-initial-findings-about-house-fire-that-killed-nhls-jessi-pierce-and-her-3-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/523457\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigators Release Initial Findings About House Fire That Killed NHL\u2019s Jessi Pierce and Her 3 Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Investigators in Minnesota have released their initial findings about the house fire that killed NHL reporter Jessi Pierce<\/a> and her three young children.<\/p>\n

The deadly fire was not caused by arson, the White Bear Lake Fire Department said in an update on Monday, March 23.<\/p>\n

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\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 the department said in a statement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pierce, who covered the Minnesota Wild, and her three children \u2014 sons Hudson, 8, and Cayden, 6, and daughter Avery, 4 \u2014 were all killed when their single-family home caught on fire on Saturday, March 21. Pierce was 37 years old at the time of her death. The family\u2019s dog also died in the tragedy.<\/p>\n

Was Jessi Pierce Married? Meet Late NHL\u2019s Reporter\u2019s Husband and Family<\/a><\/p>\n

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Pierce\u2019s husband, Mike Hinrichs, was out of town on business at the time of the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neighbor Julie Andrus told The Minnesota Star Tribune <\/a>that she was \u201csleeping\u201d when the blaze broke out in the early morning hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time the cops woke us, it was like a tornado of smoke,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Feature<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Jessi Pierce\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Pierce, who was a fierce advocate for women\u2019s voices in hockey, was remembered in a poignant tribute<\/a> by her \u201cBardown Beauties\u201d podcast cohost, Kirsten Krull, on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily isn\u2019t always blood, but the people you choose and that couldn\u2019t have been more true,\u201d Krull wrote via Instagram. \u201cJessi was like another big sister to me. She had a confidence and a way of being able to talk to anyone that I envied. She had an unmatched work ethic and a huge heart. Any time I needed help, needed to rant, or needed someone she was there without hesitation. Most importantly, she was the best mom and loved her kids and family fiercely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Krull, who works as the in-arena host for the Wild, said Pierce \u201cbrought me into her world and introduced me to her family and friends and I\u2019m so grateful she did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHudson, Cayden and Avery were the best kids and I\u2019m so grateful she let me be part of their lives,\u201d she added. \u201cThe visits on game days, being able to come to their house and hang out with the family are memories I cherish.\u201d<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe<\/a> was organized to help financially assist Hinrichs during \u201can unimaginably difficult time,\u201d which has raised nearly $200,000 at the time of this story\u2019s publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Investigators in Minnesota have released their initial findings about the house fire that killed NHL reporter Jessi Pierce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,60206,60323,60403,161,38,60641],"class_list":{"0":"post-523457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-jessi","10":"tag-kirsten-krull","11":"tag-mike-hinrichs","12":"tag-minnesota","13":"tag-minnesota-wild","14":"tag-young-children"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523457","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=523457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}