Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - Cooking oil left on a stove is being blamed for a fire that caused extensive damage to a home in southwest Rochester Friday evening.

Deputy Fire Chief Steve Belau says Rochester firefighters were called to 955 14th avenue southwest shortly after 6:30pm and found flames coming out of two sides of the home.

Two people were in the house when the fire started. Belau says one was sleeping and the other had left the oil heating unattended on the stove until it reached its ignition temperature and roared into a fire that engulfed the kitchen. The fire quickly spread to the rest of the main floor before fire crews arrived and prevented the flames from spreading to a duplex located only about six feet from the south side of the residence.

The fire was extinguished fairly fast and both occupants escaped without injury.

Belau noted the firefighters did a spectacular job stopping the fire from catching the next door neighbors’ house on fire by applying firefighting foam from their hose line to the house next door to protect it from the flames and then concentrated their hose stream on the fire coming out the windows.

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