As the Seattle Times (via the Associated Press) reported this morning, there was an early morning fire on 11th Avenue between Republican and Mercer.  We have a call in to the Seattle Fire Department for additional information:

Smoking in bed started a fire that injured two men early today in an older house that had been converted to apartments, according to the Seattle Fire Department.

Spokeswoman Dana Vander Houwen says firefighters responding about 2:30 a.m. found one man in a room. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries.

She says another man who was able to get out of the house on his own also was taken to the hospital and is expected to recover.

Damage is estimated at [$]20,000 to the three-story house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Update (11/11) 2:19 pm: CHS has learned that the man who started the fire has died

Update (11/11) 2:51 pm: Line Out identifies Comet Bouncer Ben Hills as the man killed in the fire

Update (11/11) 5:08 pm: Line Out commenter Mumbly Jo provided the photo above and identified Hills as a drummer in the Shy Ones

Update (11/11) 9:25 pm: You can check out Shy Ones music at Last.fm or on their MySpace page:

• http://www.last.fm/music/The+Shy+Ones
• http://www.myspace.com/theshyones