A house fire at 616 S. Beech St. broke out Thursday night. No one was injured, said Deputy Fire Chief Bill Mitson.

When the Syracuse Fire Department arrived at around 11 p.m., flames had spread from the porch to the attic, but only the front half of the house was damaged, Mitson said. Flames were hard to contain in the attic, and SFD put a hole in the roof to allow water in, he said.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, Mitson said.

A female resident was in the house at the time of the fire. The occupant was unaware of the fire until her neighbor saw the side of house in flames and alerted her. Neither person was a Syracuse University student.

Two witnesses at the scene said they saw sparks and smoke in the sky from the Ostrom Avenue side of Thornden Park just before 11 p.m.

Five fire trucks responded to the fire, in addition to an EMT crew, which is standard protocol for a fire of that size, Mitson said.

The fire was contained by 11:45 p.m., though smoke was still visible in the area and firefighters continued to monitor the house.

-Asst. news editor Megan Saucke contributed reporting to this article

Published on September 25, 2008 at 12:00 pm