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The apartment fire that killed a 26-year-old Newton man last month has been ruled an arson -- the city's first arson fatality, authorities said Thursday.

Shawn Ormsbee was killed in the fire May 18 at Slate Creek Apartments. Authorities said he died after he reportedly went back into a burning apartment.

Another resident, 34-year-old Sharon Fisher, was treated for minor injuries after jumping from a second-floor balcony. More than a dozen other occupants escaped unharmed, Newton authorities said.

Newton Fire Marshal Randall McBee would not disclose how the fire was set.

But authorities said that two people were seen running from the area moments before the fire was discovered. One was wearing dark pants with wide white or light-colored stripes.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday it's "quite flattering and a little surreal" to be mentioned as a potential running mate for Barack Obama, but she declined to say whether she would accept.

"The decision is his choice," she said during a visit to Denver, where she will serve as co-chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention in August. "I'm sure he'll make a great choice for the country."

Obama has named three people -- including Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy -- to head his search for a running mate. Among others named as possible candidates are former Sens. John Edwards and Sam Nunn and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Sebelius, a second-term governor of a predominantly Republican state, has endorsed Obama and campaigned for him in Ohio, where her father, John Gilligan, was governor from 1971 to 1975.

In Denver, Sebelius spoke at a breakfast hosted by the environmental legal group Earthjustice, saying she supports Obama's proposal to commit $150 billion to alternative energy development.