Fire crews from the City of Niles and Niles Township fire departments responded in the early morning hours Wednesday to the home of Stacy O’Hara at 1505 Platt St. in Niles.

O’Hara had just returned from work at around 1 a.m. to find smoke coming from her roof.  She quickly woke her family, who were asleep in the home, and called 911.

Upon arrival, fire crews crawled into the attic and were able to control the fire in the first few minutes. It took some time to place tarps as well as remove blown-in insulation in the attic to limit the potential of a fire re-igniting later from a missed ember.

Niles Fire Chief Larry Lamb reported that the fire looked to originate above the ceiling in the attic near a light fixture in the bathroom. The scary part is that the smoke alarms on the first floor would not have alerted until the fire had grown to dangerous levels, greatly reducing the time available for escape, the chief explained.

“We were very lucky she came home and saw the smoke when she did,” Lamb said. “The fire in the attic, if not found, would have spread in moments to engulf the entire attic. The quick coordinated response by city and township firefighters limited the damage to this home as well as shortened the time the family will be out of their home.

“When we lose a building to fire, in many cases, they are never rebuilt, affecting the overall health of our community,” Lamb added. “In this case, thanks to our good fortune and a timely response, the damage is relatively minimal.”

Fire crews were on scene for approximately an hour to assure that the fire had not spread in the attic.

Southwestern Michigan Community Ambulance Service and and the Niles Police Department also assisted.