A Cedar Hill woman woke to the smell of smoke early Thursday morning (Feb. 13) and roused her family, Cedar Hill Assistant Fire Chief Greg Shuster says.
The family of three – the woman, a man and a child – quickly got out of the house, in the 6100 block of Cedar Hill Road, and called 911, Shuster said.
He said they reported looking out a window and seeing flames.
The Cedar Hill Fire Protection District received the call about the fire at 1:27 a.m. The home is about a quarter-mile from the district’s Station 1.
When firefighters arrived, the man had already attempted to put out the fire.
“There was a small fire on the porch and the resident had used a fire extinguisher on it until we could get there and help him extinguish it,” Shuster said.
The fire caused little damage to the home, all on the exterior of the building, and it is still livable, Shuster said. The situation could have been much worse if the woman had not been wakened by the smoke, he said.
He said using a fire extinguisher on a small fire is fine, but not before calling the fire district.
“Call 911 first, even before using a fire extinguisher,” Shuster said.
Cedar Hill firefighters extinguished the fire in only a few minutes. The cause of the fire was undetermined, Shuster said.
“It was accidental,” he said. “There was nothing suspicious.”