A Wednesday night house fire in St. Paul’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood claimed a woman’s life, the fire and police departments said Thursday morning.

Two dogs also died in the fire. Paramedics took another resident to a hospital for treatment.

A person in the neighborhood called 911 about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday and reported hearing someone yelling for help, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman. Responding officers smelled smoke, heard the man yelling and narrowed it down to a house on Buford Avenue near Grantham Street.

The man was standing on the front porch and smoke was coming from the home. He said his wife was still inside with their dogs, according to Ernster.

Officers got a fire extinguisher and went to the door, but the fire was growing rapidly and they couldn’t enter the home due to the heat and large amount of smoke, Ernster said.

Firefighters quickly put out the fire. They found a person deceased in the room where the fire started, said Deputy Fire Chief Roy Mokosso.

Preliminary investigation indicates smoking as the cause of the fire, Mokosso said. Smoking is the leading cause of fatal fires in Minnesota.

The fire department did not find working smoke detectors in the area where the fire started.

One officer was evaluated for smoke inhalation and another had a cut to his hand; both were seen at Regions Hospital, Ernster said. No firefighters were injured.

The woman’s death was the sixth fire fatality in St. Paul this year, including four children who perished after a fire in their home on Jan. 3.

The city usually averages two to three fatal fires per year. There were six fire fatalities in St. Paul in 2017 and the most recorded in the last 30 years was seven in 1994; five children were killed in a firebombing that year.

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