A second-story fire in downtown DeKalb early Tuesday morning caused $50,000 in damages.

At about 3:30 a.m., the DeKalb Fire Department responded to a call downtown DeKalb apartment on the second floor of a complex at 229 E. Lincoln Highway, above SMLTWN Skateboard Shop. Upon entering, the fire department found heavy smoke throughout the apartment. The first arriving crews stretched a hose line upstairs into the apartment, and initiated an aggressive interior attack, keeping the fire confined to a storage room in the rear of the apartment, according to a DeKalb Fire Department press release.

The fire started due to a malfunction in an air conditioning/heating unit in the storage room, according to the release.

The apartment suffered some heat and smoke damage, and the two businesses below the apartment incurred water damage, said Assistant Fire Chief Scott Love. Surrounding units were not affected by the fire or smoke.

The apartment suffered an estimated $25,000 in damage, with an additional $25,000 in water damage to each of the downstairs businesses.

“The water damage was caused by a pipe that separated on the fire floor after a solder joint heated to the point the pipe separated,” Love said.

All occupants evacuated the building prior to the arrival of the fire department, and no fire department personnel or occupants were injured.

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