The man escaped injury, according to Fire Department Capt. Steve Teske.

The fire at 21 ½ N. 14th St. was reported at 9:54 a.m. Saturday.

Teske said the man was cooking in his basement apartment. He said a plate with a dish towel on top of it was left next to the hot element on the stove. The man left the kitchen briefly and that dish towel ignited. The man came back into the kitchen and began throwing water from the sink onto the flames.

“He stopped a lot of it,” Teske said.

Firefighters used a pressurized water extinguisher to put out the remaining flames. The fire damage was significant, however.

“The kitchen is wrecked,” Teske said.

The apartment is in the basement of a house owned by Becker Realty, of Fort Dodge.