The Muncie Fire Department is still investigating the cause of a fire that occurred Thursday morning at the home of two Ball State University students and one student from Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana.
Two of the three students living in the house, at 1109 Rex St., awoke to the sound of a man yelling that the house was on fire around 8:40 a.m. The third student was already out of the house. No one was hurt.
Someone called the fire department at 8:43 a.m. Firefighters were on the scene five minutes later.
Freshman Cody Hoshaw, one of the students living in the house, said his neighbor's landlord ran into the house and woke up the two who were sleeping.
"I woke up and the house was on fire," Hoshaw said.
Battalion Chief Jim Clevenger said the students were lucky the fire department arrived as soon as it did.
"The fire was 10 minutes away from being deadly," Clevenger said.
The department was able to contain the fire to the front porch, Clevenger said.
"It was a small fire," he said. "But it came really close. It might've got to the attic area."
The fire began in the front porch area, which was left unlocked, Clevenger said.
"Anyone could've started this fire," he said.
Richai Rihm, a neighbor, said she heard police sirens and looked out her window and saw flames coming from the porch.
"I was just sitting on the couch, and I heard a siren and I knew it was close," she said. "I looked out and the cop car was out there."
Rihm said the fire was out about five minutes after the fire trucks arrived at the scene.
"Their whole porch was on fire, but as soon as the fire truck got here, it was out," she said.
The house is still liveable, Clevenger said. Only the porch was damaged.
Brock Wilson, the owner of the property, was unavailable for comment.
Fire Inspector Gary Bowden is investigating the cause of the fire.
Bowden said he ruled out electrical complications because the porch does not have electrical service.
Clevenger and Rihm said at least one smoker lives in the house, but Bowden said he is not sure about a cause yet. He said he was waiting for lab results, which should come back to him within a week.
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