“There was heavy, heavy fire in there,” Fire Chief Steve Hergenreter said of the blaze at 734 Seventh Ave. N.

No one was injured. A dog and two snakes, one of which was in a large plastic tote, were brought safely out of the house.

The fire was reported at 12:45 p.m. by a neighbor. Firefighters received conflicting reports about how many people may have been home when the fire broke out.

According to Hergenreter, the two-story wood-frame house at the corner of Seventh Avenue North and North Eighth Street is divided into three apartments, but there was only one family living there. He said the second floor is one apartment and there are two apartments on the first floor. The fire, he said, was in a first-floor apartment on the north side and an attached garage.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
A Fort Dodge firefighter directs a stream of water into the flames during a Tuesday afternoon fire at 734 Seventh Ave N. The fire, reported at 12:45 p.m, caused extensive damage, but no one was injured.

Two hoselines were used to extinguish the fire. Firefighters had to cut down the garage door to get access.

While firefighters were working, a resident of the house arrived and began yelling at them to move a hoseline. He then climbed into a pickup truck parked in front of the garage and got behind the wheel. Three police officers converged on the truck and ordered him not to move it.

Parts of North Eighth Street and Seventh Avenue North were closed to traffic during the fire.

Hergenreter said the garage and one first-floor apartment sustained heavy fire damage. The rest of the house sustained smoke damage, he added. He said the house cannot be occupied.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation Tuesday.

The house is owned by ACC 305 LLC, of Des Moines, according to online records of the Webster County Assessor’s Office.

Those records indicate that it was built in 1871.

City police and firefighters responded to the fire and were on scene until about 2:30 p.m.