No one was injured in the fire at 109 S. 18th St. that was reported at noon.

Fire Department Lt. Devon Schuster said the fire was contained to the attic on the south side of the two-story brick duplex home.

He said the man who lives there was sleeping on the first floor when the smoke detectors woke him up.

“Credit this one to the smoke detectors,” Schuster said.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
No one was injured when a fire broke out at about noon in the attic at 109 S. 18th St. Wednesday. The fire was confined to the attic on the south side of the building.

No one else was at home in that apartment. A woman who was in the apartment on the north side of the building got out unhurt.

When firefighters arrived, there was smoke coming out of the attic on the south side of the building. Firefighters took one hoseline up into the attic and extinguished the flames.

Schuster said the cause of the fire was under investigation, but it appeared to have been ignited by an electrical problem.

He said residents of both apartments in the building will have to find temporary housing. The United Way of Fort Dodge was called to help them.

Fort Dodge police assisted firefighters at the scene. Emergency personnel were on the scene for about an hour.

The duplex is owned by Harvey Rentals LLC, of Fort Dodge, according to online records of the Webster County Assessor’s Office. It was built in 1908, according to those records.

Wednesday’s blaze was the second attic fire in a Fort Dodge home this week. On Monday, a house at 1510 Fifth Ave. N. was damaged by a fire that was also apparently caused by an electrical problem.