Edgartown fire personnel quickly extinguished an early afternoon house fire in Katama, according to the fire chief. There was nobody at the home at the time of the fire.

Edgartown Fire Lieut. Jake Sylvia fights house fire.

Courtesy Edgartown Police Department

Edgartown Fire Lieut. Jake Sylvia fights house fire.

Courtesy Edgartown Police Department

Edgartown fire chief Peter Shemeth said it appears that mulch surrounding a home at 5 Dunes Road caught fire, with the flames spreading to the porch and then the front of the home.

“We’re still trying to determine what exactly started the mulch, but everything is so, so dry that it doesn’t take much,” Chief Shemeth told the Gazette Friday afternoon. He said the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.

There was nobody at the home at the time of the fire, Chief Shemeth said.

He said someone spotted the fire and immediately reported it, preventing greater damage to the two-story shingled home. “Ten minutes later the outcome could have been completely different, so we’re fortunate,” he said.

Edgartown firefighters and all of the department’s fire trucks responded, as did Edgartown police. Chief Shemeth said Oak Bluffs police were on standby.

“The guys did a fantastic job and we had a great turnout of personnel,” he said.

The house sustained mostly exterior damage, he said, with burned shingles and damage to the windows and the deck. While the inside will have to be cleaned, he said, it was virtually untouched.

Edgartown police officer William Bishop said a call came in about 2:28 p.m. Upon arrival, “I observed a lot of smoke and flames from the front of the building,” Officer Bishop said. He said the police department are now working on contacting the homeowners.