(La Porte, IN) - A home caught fire in La Porte this morning.

 

At about 6:30 a.m., firefighters responded to a duplex at 602 Kingsporte Avenue on the city’s south side.

 

La Porte Fire Chief Andy Snyder said a guest in one of the homes, who was sleeping on a couch, got up to use the bathroom only to find smoke coming out from underneath the bathroom door and the knob now hot when they went to open it.

 

The guest saw flames in the bathroom, before shutting the door and alerting everyone to get out of the structure.  Snyder said residents in the other side of the duplex also made their way out.

 

“Everybody is safe. We were able to put out the fire in less than about 10 minutes,” he said.

Snyder said the fire was pretty much contained to the bathroom except for a small fire extension into the adjoining rooms. The unit which caught fire, though, suffered enough damage that it will have to be vacated for now.

 

“They won’t be able to stay in it until it gets repaired,” he said.

 

Snyder noted that the other unit was not damaged, and therefore residents on that side of the duplex will be able to continue living there.

 

Snyder said a candle left burning in the bathroom overnight is one of the possibilities being looked into as the potential cause of the fire, which currently remains under investigation.