A house on Grovensor Street suffered minor damage after a fire started in the attic around noon Friday.
The Athens Police and Fire Departments responded at a call that smoke was coming out of the attic window of 145 Grosvenor St. Erik Schmitz, who lives across the street, called in the fire.
“I had been hearing beeping for about 20 minutes but I didn’t think anything of it,” said Schmitz, an Ohio University senior studying political science.
Schmitz saw the smoke when he left his house to go to class. He went in and told his roommate, Daniel Ahrens, a senior studying video production.
Schmitz called 9-1-1 as Ahrens ran across the street with their fire extinguisher to knock on their neighbor’s door.
Nobody was home when the fire started in the attic, said Athens Fire Lt. Doug Ford. He added that officials are unsure how the fire started.
Douglas and Kimberlee Francis, who live at the house, were at work when the fire started. Douglas is an assistant state public defender with the Athens County Public Defenders office. Kimberlee has her own law practice in Athens.
The fire caused minor fire, smoke and water damage to the attic. Athens Police Officer Matt Warren said the damage could be cleaned up within a couple of hours with a shop-vac, except for the actual damage to the house.
“Thank God there was little damage and nobody was home when it happened,” Warren said.
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