Firefighters respond to house fire on NE side

Firefighters quickly extinguished a house fire in northeast Cedar Rapids tonight.

Owner David Rose smelled smoke when he opened the front door after returning home about 6:30 p.m., fire department spokesman Greg Buelow said. Investigating, Rose found thick smoke in the attic. He left the house and called 911.

Firefighters arrived to find smoke rising from the roof of the story-and-a-half house. They entered through a side door and went to the attic, which was filled with smoke.

The fire near the front of the house was extinguished within minutes, but cut holes in the roof to check for hot spots and to remove smoldering insulation.

No one was injured, but Rose, 54, the home's sole resident, will be displaced due to the roof damage and lack of utilities, which were shut off.

The fire's cause remains under investigation.