Firefighters who responded to a St. Paul house fire found a man inside and carried him out, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital soon after, according to the fire department.
Fire crews were sent to a single-family home in Payne-Phalen about 12:45 a.m. Thursday. They found heavy fire conditions on the front porch and inside on the first floor of the residence in the 400 block of East Cook Avenue. The fire had also extended to the second floor.
Firefighters quickly brought the fire under control and, as they were searching, they found the man in the second-floor bathroom. He was in cardiac arrest and St. Paul-Fire EMS transported him to a hospital while providing resuscitation efforts, according to Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith. The man was pronounced dead soon after arriving to the hospital.
The St. Paul fire department is investigating the fire’s cause. A preliminary investigation found a space heater near the fire’s origin, which was the first-floor living room in the front of the house, Smith said.
“Officially, this cannot be ruled a fire fatality until all investigations are complete,” Smith said in a media statement.
The Red Cross is providing resources for three men and a woman who were displaced by the fire.
There have been five fire fatalities in St. Paul this year. The city averages less than three fire fatalities annually, according to Smith.
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