A St. Paul couple put their lives at risk over the weekend to save their flat-screen television from a fire in their apartment, authorities said Monday. 
 
 The failed effort Sunday afternoon in the six-unit building in the 600 block of N. Chatsworth Street landed the man and woman, both in their 40s, in Regions Hospital, both suffering from smoke inhalation, according to fire officials. 
 
 Firefighters saw the man “disconnecting the wires to his flat-screen while the room was filling with smoke,” said St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard. “They forced them both to the door to get them to safety.” 
 
 Zaccard said there’s no possession worth dying for. 
 
 “Get out and then call 911,” he said. “There’s no reason to risk your life like that.” The flames in the basement unit of the building northeast of Lexington Parkway and University Avenue were quickly doused. The fire has been blamed on careless smoking, Zaccard said. 
 
 Paul Walsh ||||| Two people were hospitalized Sunday after they tried to save their flat-screen TV before leaving their burning St. Paul apartment. 
 
 Firefighters were called to the six-unit apartment building at 624 N. Chatsworth St., near North Lexington Parkway and Interstate 94, just before 3 p.m., according to St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard. 
 
 He said when firefighters entered the basement apartment, a man and a woman were disconnecting the TV in an attempt to take it out with them. 
 
 The room already had filled with thick smoke, he said. 
 
 Firefighters had to tell them to leave the TV behind and get to safety, Zaccard said. 
 
 The two were treated for smoke inhalation at Regions Hospital, he said. 
 
 "They were doing the wrong thing," Zaccard said. "If you can't fight the fire, get out and call the fire department. Don't grab your belongings. ... They can be replaced. Your life can't be." 
 
 Firefighters quickly got the blaze under control, he said, and damage was confined to a portion of the room in that apartment unit. 
 
 Zaccard didn't know whether the television was damaged, he said. 
 
 The cause of the fire is under investigation. 
 
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 Raya Zimmerman can be reached at 651-228-5524. Follow her at Twitter.com/RayaZimmerman.
– It can be heroic when someone braves a fire to save a loved one. It's a different word when that "loved one" is a television. A 40-something couple in St. Paul ended up hospitalized for smoke inhalation after they, yes, tried in vain to disconnect their beloved flat-screen TV as their apartment burned around them, reports the Pioneer Press. Firefighters arrived and forced them outside, reports the Star Tribune. They'll be OK, unlike the Texas man who went back into a burning building to save his phone.