A father and son were hospitalized Friday after sustaining injuries in a morning fire at their apartment on St. Paul's East Side.

Crews were called at 10:19 a.m. to 1891 E 7th Street, where they saw heavy black smoke coming from a third-floor apartment window, said St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard.

Fire fighters found a man and a boy unconscious in a bathroom. Both were treated at the scene by Regions Hospital emergency physicians before being taken to the hospital, Zaccard said. The boy is expected to survive, but Zaccard said he did not know the man's condition.

Neighbors said that the man is the boy's father.

Two crews of fire fighters quickly put out the fire, which was contained to the apartment's living room, Zaccard said. Nobody else was injured.

The fire department said later Friday that the fire was caused by an electrical space heater that was too close to a couch.

The charred remains of a couch were left strewn on the lawn of the apartment complex Friday afternoon beneath a boarded up window.

NICOLE NORFLEET