Lucky for a Fifth Avenue homeowner, a member of the Ladysmith Fire Department drove by and saw smoke.
He stopped, investigated, saw a lot of smoke and knocked on the door.
And when no one answered, he called it in.
Fire Chief Ray Delcourt said if the fire had gone unnoticed for another five or 10 minutes, the damage would have been much worse.
Delcourt said after fire crews got inside they discovered a pot left on the stove. The contents had caught fire and the blaze was spreading throughout the kitchen.
Delcourt said there could be between $20,000 to $40,000 in damage from both the fire and smoke.
“The smoke was pretty heavy,” said Delcourt, adding people need to take the extra time to ensure their appliances are off before leaving the house.
This story could have ended much differently, too, said Delcourt. The house did not have any smoke detectors.
“It’s mandatory to have smoke detection in your residences. If that happened at nighttime or something it could have been a different result.”
