ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) — Two people are temporarily homeless after a large fire Saturday night at a house on Ithaca’s South Side.

Assistant Chief Jim Wheal at the Ithaca Fire Department says the heavy fire was raging when firefighters first arrived around 11:40.

Some of those flames nearly reached the street. Crews were able to put out the flames after a half hour of fighting the fire.

In a press release from IFD, “an occupant was
alerted to the fire by a neighbor, and smoke detectors were heard sounding when firefighters
arrived.”

A cat was rescued from the burning house and is being treated by the SPCA.

No other injuries have been reported, and investigators are still working on what caused the late-night inferno.