Firefighters made short work of a fire that broke out in the basement of a home in St. Catharines after a neighbour heard the smoke alarm and called 911.

At 11:52 p.m. on Monday, St. Catharines Fire and Emergency Services were called to 78 Currie St.

Fire Chief Dave Upper said the occupants of the single-storey house were not home at the time. However, because there was a working smoke alarm inside, a neighbour was alerted to the fire and called it in quickly, limiting the damage.

“Smoke alarms worked exactly as we anticipate,” he said.

The fire was contained in the basement and extinguished by 12:10 a.m., Upper said, adding there was some difficulty accessing the basement because there was no one there to point to the location of the stairs.

Firefighters remained on the scene until

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