Community rallies after 3 boys, man found dead after fire in southern Minnesota

Crosses and flowers mark three of the lives lost after a fire Sunday morning at a southern Minnesota home. The Mower County Sheriff said the victims include a man and three boys. The Mower County Sheriff's Office, Grand Meadow Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating the fire in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, south of Rochester. Officials are still working to determine how it started and exactly how the four victims died. The sheriff's office said further forensic analysis is pending. Mower County Sheriff Steve Sandvik said he expects to have more information, including official causes of death by Wednesday morning. The loss has shaken the tight-knit community of just over 1,000 residents. "It's absolutely devastating,"  Sandvik said. "When you're talking about a small community, everybody knows everybody." An online fundraiser has been launched to support the mother of the three boys killed in the fire. The page's organizer wrote that "there are simply no words that could ever begin to describe the pain she is facing," adding that the boys "were her pride and joy, her happiness, and the center of her universe." As of Tuesday, the fundraiser had raised more than $44,000. Community members are also collecting donations, care packages and letters of encouragement for the family and for first responders who responded to the fire. A prayer vigil is scheduled for Wednesday evening at St. Finbarr Catholic Church. "When these types of tragedies happen, the community does come together," Sandvik said. In: Minnesota Fire Featured Local Savings