A family of four are safe and staying with friends after a fire broke out in their attic Wednesday evening.
Firefighters responded just after 6:30 p.m. to a fire at 61 Rampart Road after the family inside smelled smoke, evacuated and called 911. When crews of 25 firefighters arrived, they found that the fire was located in the ceiling and the inaccessible attic space of a two-bedroom addition part of the home, according to a release. Before firefighters had arrived, the husband had gone back into the house and tried to put out the fire with a garden hose, but had to leave as the attic and house filled with smoke.
Firefighters pulled down the bedroom ceiling and vented the roof to extinguish the flames. Heat, smoke and water damage was confined to the the two-bedroom addition and the family made arrangements to stay with friends until repairs could be made, officials said.