Firefighters made short work of a fire that broke out in the basement of a Garden City home after a neighbour heard a smoke alarm and called 911.
At 11:52 p.m. Monday, St. Catharines Fire Services was called to 78 Currie St.
Chief Dave Upper said the occupants of the single-storey house were not home at the time. However, because there was a working smoke alarm inside, a neighbour was alerted to the fire and called it in quickly, limiting the damage.
“Smoke alarms worked exactly as we anticipate,” he said.
The fire was contained in the basement and extinguished by 12:10 a.m., Upper said, adding there was some difficulty accessing the basement because there was no one there to point to the location of the stairs.
Firefighters remained on scene until about 4 a.m. to confirm the fire hadn’t spread.
Upper said there was some fire damage to the room and contents, as well as some of the floor joists in the ceiling of the basement. However, the occupants were able to return home once the scene was clear.
In all, 19 firefighters on four trucks responded to the blaze, along with the command unit.
Investigators with the fire prevention unit returned to the home Tuesday to look into the cause, origin and circumstances of the fire.