No one was injured during a small appliance fire in a downtown Rochelle apartment building Thursday afternoon, Rochelle Fire Chief Dave Sawlsville said.

Rochelle Fire was called at 2:21 p.m. to an apartment in the 400 block of Lincoln Highway for a report of a fire behind a refrigerator. That address is a block away from RFD’s station.

“The occupant ran over to the fire station and rang the doorbell,” Sawlsville said. “Of course it was a pretty short response time. We got there and it was light smoke and haze. Light haze on a multi-family residence calls for an elevated alarm. We called the Ogle-Lee Fire Protection District stations of Hillcrest and Flagg Center. We found the cause to be the refrigerator. We unplugged it and removed it and checked the wall to make sure the fire didn’t get into the wall or surrounding apartments and there wasn’t any fire extension.”

Sawlsville said the likely cause of the fire was a rodent chewing through wiring. RFD cleared the scene just after 3 p.m.

The fire caused an estimated $2,000 worth of damage, Sawlsville said. The apartment, which is occupied by one family, is still inhabitable. The RFD chief said the occupant being home and noticing the fire prevented what could have been a worse situation.

RFD prepares for potential fires in interconnected downtown buildings often by walking through commercial spaces and monitoring what changes are made to living spaces.

“It’s always a challenge with structures like this because you don’t know what kind of remodeling has gone on, especially upstairs,” Sawlsville said. “We don’t always see those building permits. You don’t know which apartments are occupied and which ones aren’t. You have to go about it methodically but quickly. Sometimes the inside of apartments change due to remodeling and that can cause issues for us. We had an extra response out of an abundance of caution.”