Nobody was injured, but the two-story house sustained significant fire, smoke, and water damage after a fire started in the corner of the home’s basement.

The fire was started by smoking materials that hadn’t been thrown away properly, according to Alpena Fire Chief Bill Forbush.

Homeowner Mary Buza said she’d just left the house and gotten to work about 2 p.m. when she heard sirens and learned from a family member that her house was on fire.

Buza’s son, home when the fire started and alerted by smoke detectors, fled the home with the family’s two dogs and called 911.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Firefighters watch flames inside the front door of a 3rd Avenue home in Alpena today. The afternoon fire was put out within about an hour by city and township fire crews.

Firefighters from the Alpena Fire Department, assisted by the Alpena Township and Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center fire departments, attacked the fire from several fronts, dousing flames in the basement and on the first floor, where the fire had crawled through heat and air vents.

Thermal imaging devices were used to track fire inside the walls of the plaster-and-lath structure to make sure all flames were extinguished. Fire crews had to break through exterior siding on several sides of the house to make sure the fire hadn’t climbed to the second story, but the inside walls were able to be preserved, a firefighter reported.

The basement sustained heavy fire damage, and the basement and ground floors were heavily damaged by water and smoke.

The house was built in 1867 and still had its original hardwood floors, built-in buffets, and stained-glass windows, according to Buza, who purchased the home in January.

Buza watched from the street as firefighters moved in and around her house for about an hour today, smashing windows and attacking her siding with axes to try to save the structure.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Firefighters pry up siding to find fire that has crept inside the walls of an Alpena home today.

Only Monday, she said, she sent invitations asking people to join her for her first Thanksgiving in her new home.

“I’m not optimistic that will happen, after watching them tear down the walls and blow out the windows,” Buza said, family members nearby to offer encouragement and hugs.

Kurt Croteau, an Alpena resident who lost his home to a fire in August 2019, watched the fire from across the street. He’d offered to help Buza and her family any way he could.

“I know what she’s going through,” said Croteau, who had to rebuild his Lay Road home and lost some cherished collectors’ items from his grandfather. “I’ve been there. It’s always hard to see people hurt and not be able to do anything for them.”

Her home is insured, Buza said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Plaster flies in a blast of water from the hoses of firefighters inside an Alpena home as, outside, firefighters chop holes through siding to stop the spread of the fire that started in the home’s basement today.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A firefighter reaches out a broken basement window after a fire burned a 3rd Avenue home in Alpena today.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Firefighters strategize as smoke pours from the front door of an Alpena home where a fire started in the basement this afternoon.

News Photo by Julie Riddle A resident who escaped with his two dogs and called 911 watches as firefighters tame a fire in his Alpena home this afternoon.

News Photo by Alyssa Ochss Wrapped in smoke, firefighters plan an entry into an Alpena home where a basement fire spread through the walls this afternoon.

News Photo by Alyssa Ochss Homeowner Mary Buza is comforted by family members as she watches firefighters attack a fire at her 3rd Avenue home today.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena firefighters on the scene of a house fire on the 500 block of South 3rd Avenue.