UPDATED: April 17, 2013, 8:13 p.m.

A small fire broke out on the 700 block of Ostrom Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, forcing the five Syracuse University students who lived in the house to find a place to stay overnight.

The fire started at about 3:40 p.m., said District Chief Todd Milton of the Syracuse Fire Department. Milton said none of the students who lived in the house at 773 Ostrom Ave. were home at the time, but one student was home when the fire started. There were no injuries, and there was minimal fire and water damage, he said.

The American Red Cross assisted the students with food, and many of them were able to find friends to stay with, said Liz Ersek, media liaison for the Red Cross.

“All in all, they did pretty good,” Ersek said. “They’re a little shaken up, but they’re fine.”

Milton said the cause of the fire is still being investigated, but he did say the fire “ran inside the walls” from the second floor up to the attic. The house was built with balloon construction, he said, which means it contains void spaces.

The fire department shut down the power in the house, he said. It’s now up to the owner of the house to hire an electrician to make any necessary repairs before the power can be restored, Milton said.

One student who lived in the house said he was in class when it started, and was told they would be able to get some of their belongings out later. The student declined to give his name, and other students who lived in the house declined to comment.

The owner of the house was at the scene of the fire, but said he had no further information about the situation.

Firefighters started turning off water from the fire hydrant near the house at about 5:35 p.m., and the department left approximately 20 minutes later.

—Asst. News Editor Jessica Iannetta contributed reporting to this article.

Published on April 16, 2013 at 8:27 pm

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