-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Fort Dodge firefighters place a partially burned mattress and a box spring outside an apartment at 304 Ave. M West Wednesday evening.The mattress and curtains on a bedroom window were burned in a small fire that was reported at 6:45 p.m. Someone in the apartment threw a bucket of water on the flames before firefighters arrived, extinguishing most of the fire. ‘‘There was a lighter there,’’ Fire Department Lt. Nathan Conrad said. ‘‘It looks as though someone might have been playing with a lighter.’’ No one was injured and Conrad said the residents would be able to stay in the apartment.