No one was injured on Sunday in a fire which badly damaged one of two units in a paired patio home at 1200 Griffin Lake Ave., the Chesterton Fire Department said.

Capt. Rudy Jimenez told the Chesterton Tribune today that the CFD was dispatched to the residence at 10:42 a.m. Jimenez himself was the first to arrive at the scene, where he observed heavy fire and smoke coming from the second floor of the north unit of the paired patio home.

The Porter and Liberty Township Volunteer fire departments both responded—under an automatic aid agreement—a quick search was conducted to ensure no one was still inside the home, then a hose was run inside the residence and a “pretty quick knock-down” achieved, Capt. Tony Coslet said.

Actual fire damage was limited to the north unit of the paired patio home—thanks to an effective fire wall between the two units consisting of “beefed-up drywall,” Jimenez said—but firefighters were forced to conduct extensive overall of the north unit, in particular of the attic. Coslet noted that the cellulose insulation used in construction of the home—basically recycled paper blown into the attic space—does a good job insulating but hot embers tend to travel easily through it and cause it to “smolder and smolder.” All of the insulation had to be removed, Coslet said.

The fire is believed to have started in an upstairs bedroom / study / utility room and has been ruled accidental but the actual cause has yet to be determined, Jimenez said.

Damage to the structure of the north unit was estimated at $100,000 and that to contents at $40,000, Jimenez added, while an additional $10,000 in heat damage was done to the vinyl siding of an adjacent paired patio home. The south unit of the structure sustained some smoke damage.

Coslet was unable to estimate the amount of water used, as it was pumped directly from a nearby hydrant.