Small Fire At Rental House On Oakland Monday Afternoon

ACC fire officials extinguished a small fire in a Five Points rental house Monday afternoon that began and ended in the basement. The house is on Oakland Avenue.

The resident, a UGA student who didn't want her name used, said she had clothes drying in the dryer when she smelled something burning and saw smoke coming up through the floorboards. She said she opened the door to the basement and saw smoke, so she punched the security system for a fire and fire fighters came immediately. The building is a block from the Five Points Fire Station.

Fire fighters on the scene said there was, and is, lots of stuff piled in the basement, probably left from other tenants. A mattress caught fire on Monday afternoon and burned. They dragged it out into the front yard and sprayed it with water.

The rental duplex has for years been owned by C.M. Chen & Associates, based in Atlanta. Chen was a professor in UGA's Warnell School of Forestry.