Woman dies following St. Paul apartment fire that investigators believe she may have set

A St. Paul woman has died of burn injuries she suffered nearly two weeks ago in a fire that investigators believe she may have started herself at her Highland Park apartment.

Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith, who reported the woman’s death Saturday, said her name and cause of death will be released after the autopsy.

Firefighters broke into the locked residence after responding to an alarm at the apartment building in the 800 block of Mount Curve Boulevard about 7:30 a.m. Feb. 24.

They extinguished the blaze before it could spread to neighboring units.

The severely burned woman was treated at the scene before being taken to a hospital. She died four days later.

Her death marks the city’s fourth fire fatality this year. While St. Paul averages three fire deaths annually, 2024 saw nine, the most in 30 years.

Though fire investigators continued to analyze what caused the blaze, they believe that the fire was intentionally set.

“Several smoke detectors in the unit had been removed or had missing batteries,” Smith said in a news release. “Fire sprinklers contained the fire, preventing further spread.”

However, the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections condemned four units because of fire damage.

Late Friday in Minneapolis, a fire forced the evacuation of eight adults and five children from a triplex in the Kingfield neighborhood. No injuries were reported.

After firefighters put out the blaze in the basement of the residence in the 3700 block of 1st Avenue S., the building was deemed uninhabitable. Red Cross workers provided aid to the displaced residents0.

Investigators were working to determine the cause of the fire.