2 Bodies Found After St. Paul House Fire

ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- Crews say they have found two bodies after a fire that caved in the roof of a house in St. Paul Tuesday morning.

Crews responded to the scene at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday after a driver going by noticed flames coming out of a home near Smith Avenue South and Morton Street West.

When firefighters got there, it was too late to go inside to try to look for anyone in the burning home.

They think the two people who died lived in that home -- they were a 71-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman.

"This is a deep tragedy for the family and for the firefighters who couldn't rescue them from this," said Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard.

Zaccard said one of the couple's sons recently installed several new smoke alarms in the home -- worried because his mom was a smoker.

Their adult children told firefighters they believe cigarettes are likely to blame.

Relatives and friends gathered outside of the home in shock. Bill Hickok, who has known the couple since he moved in in the 1970s, said it was hard to for him to see their relatives so distraught.

"Particularly their daughter who I've known since she was a little girl. The parents are gone, the house is gone. What do you do? Everything is gone," he said. "You never expect think this is going to happen in your neighborhood."

Relatives on the scene said the family has seen a lot of tragedy recently. The couple believed killed in the fire recently lost a son to a heart attack.

Authorities said the couple in the home have lived there for 40 years.