(La Porte, IN) - A quick response in La Porte kept fire on an outside wall of a house from spreading to the inside.

Firefighters after 12 p.m. on Saturday responded to 706 Lawrence St.

An upstairs tenant told investigators he was watching TV with his grandmother when she smelled smoke and he looked out a back window to see flames, said La Porte Fire Chief Andy Snyder.

Snyder said it appears the outside wall caught fire when household goods of some type left beside the house by a previous tenant somehow ignited.

One of the tenants tried putting out the fire with a garden hose but was not successful.

“We were able to extinguish it pretty quickly,” Snyder said.

Snyder said firefighters were on the scene for about 45 minutes. Investigators were trying to determine how the rubbish next to the house caught fire.