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EAST LIVERPOOL - City firefighters were able to quickly contain a blaze Friday evening along St. Clair Avenue.

A call came for assistance through the East Liverpool Police Department at 6:55 p.m. Friday.

Two firefighters and a pumper arrived less than three minutes later at 679 St. Clair Ave., a rental unit owned by Chester resident John Adkins, according to East Liverpool Fire Department Lt. Tim Walker.

According to the initial report, the fire started on a loveseat which was outside the home on a porch.

"The fire went up the side of the house, went under the siding in places and burnt up some steps leading to a vacant, upstairs rental unit," Walker said.

A neighbor apparently saw the flames and yelled to the occupants to leave, Walker said. "One of the people living there opened the door and saw the fire and closed the door," Walker said.

The neighbor, not knowing there was a front door to the rental unit, surmised the occupants were trapped inside the building.

At first, firefighters were going under that assumption and a second alarm went out at 6:58 p.m., Walker said.

But occupants Connie Conzett and Maggie Hashman were safe and outside the rental home when firefighters and police officers arrived.

"We were able to knock down the fire pretty quickly," Walker said. "If we didn't arrive as soon as we did, we would have had a completely different outcome if the fire had gotten into the roof, I believe."

The structure sustained moderate fire damage to an exterior wall and the outside steps. The fire did not penetrate the home's interior, but smoke lingered throughout the occupied apartment.

By 7:27 p.m., the fire was contained and under control.

Walker said the occupants did not have renter's insurance, and he was not sure if Adkins had insurance on the structure itself.

The cause of the fire and the status is "undetermined" right now, according to Walker, and the investigation continues.