A house on Columbus Avenue in Albert Lea received smoke damage Tuesday night after a small fire reportedly started on the stove.

Dispatchers initially received a call at about 7:15 p.m. of a reported gas smell coming from 416 Columbus Ave. when the owner returned home.

The owner, Renee Citsay, an advertising executive for the Albert Lea Tribune, said as she approached the door of the house, she could smell gas and hear the click of a gas burner on the stove.

She told her daughter and her daughter’s friend to get back in the car and ultimately called 911.

When firefighters arrived, they found there was a small fire on the stove, which had caught an iron on fire.

The kitchen and living room received extensive smoke damage.

It is still unclear how the burner got turned on, but Citsay said it was turned on sometime between 4:15 and 7:15 p.m.

 

Fire reported

The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a fire at 2:03 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of 640th Avenue and 290th Street, just west of Freeborn. No further details were available as of press time.