A fire broke out Sunday afternoon at an apartment building located at 813 University Ave. S.E.

Minneapolis Fire Battalion Chief Todd Steinhilber said the Minneapolis Fire Department responded at 2:25 p.m. to a call about a kitchen fire in an apartment building.

When firefighters arrived, they found a stove fire in a first-floor apartment, he said. The resident was cooking in the kitchen and the fire spread to the cabinets, Steinhilber said.

Hennepin County Medical Center paramedics treated five people at the scene, he said. Three were released and two were transported by ambulance to the hospital because of smoke inhalation, Steinhilber said, adding that their conditions are listed as stable.

The fire was contained to one apartment and put out by 3:10 p.m., he said, but the cause has not been officially declared. Firefighters stayed on the scene until 3:30 p.m. to ventilate the building.

Glenn Martig, whose son, bioscience junior Daniel Martig, rents the apartment adjacent the apartment with the fire, said he and his wife went to pick up their son from his apartment Sunday afternoon.

“We noticed a bad smell from the building but thought it was someone blowing out a candle,” he said, “We didn’t think much of it.”

However, after Glenn Martig had dropped off his son, he noticed a fire truck “flying by.” He knew it was too much of a coincidence, he said, so he drove back to the apartment and saw smoke coming from the building.

University Avenue was blocked off from Seventh Avenue to 10th Avenue for approximately one hour while the fire department was on the scene and reopened at 3:30 p.m.