Authorities have identified the man who died in an apartment fire earlier this week in St. Paul that injured two other people.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office said Wednesday that James E. Sparks, 73, died in Tuesday's single-unit blaze that resulted in the city's first fire fatality of the year.
The two others injured were hospitalized and so far have survived the fire, which struck the Johnson Parkway Apartments in the 1300 block of E. Ames Avenue at around 2:15 p.m.
Officials attributed the likely cause of the fire to smoking. The apartment's smoke detector was not working, the officials said.
