Seven people were rudely awakened Thursday morning as firefighters battled a blaze at a vacant house next door. A spokesperson for the Baton Rouge Police Department says firefighters responded to a single-family house located at 2353 Convention Street just before 3 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8 to find the house fully engulfed in flames. Officials say the house was boarded up and was a total loss. The cause of the fire has been ruled arson. A duplex next door to the fire received exposure damages, displacing seven people living there. The Red Cross was called out to assist. The fire remains under investigation.