Watertown Firefighters doused a house fire on Kimball Road Tuesday morning. Residents were not hurt thanks to alert employees of a Coolidge Square business.
Calls for heavy smoke from the home at 8 Kimball Road came in for a fire at about 7:30 a.m. and a working fire was called at about 7:40 a.m. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The home sits yards from Mt. Auburn Street and police have blocked off traffic in Coolidge Square, behind the block that includes Coolidge Hardware and Cha Yen Cookery.
Fire Chief Ryan Nicholson said employees reported the fire.
“A couple of the guys from the hardware store noticed the smoke. They called it in,” Nicholson said. “One gentleman — it’s unclear if he works there or if he was just there — he was knocking on all the doors make to sure everyone was out — so that was helpful — before we got here.”
Three people were home on the first floor, and one person was evacuated from the second floor, Nicholson said. The rest of the residents from the second floor unit were away for the school vacation.
As of 8:30 a.m. some smoke came out of the side of the house which had charred marks and melted siding.
The home sits off of Kimball Road, and Nicholson said he was not sure whether fire crews would have trouble accessing the blaze. They set up one ladder truck on Kimball Road and another on Irma Avenue so hoses could hit the fire from two directions.
Most of the damage was contained to a second floor room, but flames did extend into the eaves and the attic, Nicholson said.
Watertown Fire crews from two different shifts responded to the fire.
“These guys did a great job,” Nicholson said. “Group Four, it was kind of tough. It was in the middle of shift change, so some guys were from the shift yesterday, and then guys coming in for today’s shift, but they did a good job of getting up there.”
Traffic was diverted off Mt. Auburn Street in Coolidge Square while the Fire Department put out the fire.
While the crews fighting the fire all came from Watertown, Nicholson said, all the companies were called to the scene. The Watertown Fire Department got assistance covering the City’s three fire stations from the Newton in Waltham and Cambridge fire departments.