CES douses fire in less than an hour

Firefighters from Central Emergency Services took less than an hour to extinguish a structure fire in a duplex Wednesday morning.

CES Captain Terry Bookey said the department was dispatched out to the small fire at 7:18 a.m., and had it completely put out by 7:43 a.m. The fire started in one of the basement-level bedrooms in the duplex on Base Road, which is off of Kalifornsky Beach Road near Soldotna.

“Right now cause is undetermined pending the investigation,” Bookey said.

Some members of a family were in the duplex when the fire started, but no one was hurt and everyone was safely evacuated, he said.

Firefighters contained the fire to the room it began in, but there is smoke damage throughout that side of the duplex, Bookey said. There is no estimate yet of how much the damage will cost, he said.

The Kenai Fire Department was originally called for mutual aid, but turned around when it became clear the fire was minimal, he said.

Bookey said the incident was a good example of how helpful fire detectors can be when they are properly maintained.

“A smoke detector did activate and it was able to provide some early notification to the family and to the people living there,” he said.