Heavy smoke from a kitchen fire extensively damaged the interior of a house at 234 Geesey Road in White Township early Wednesday evening.

        Indiana Fire Association Cloth Bread Basket companies 1 and 4 responded at 5:09 p.m., when the fire started in the home of Mark and Sherene Hess and their children - ages 9, 11, 14 Christmas Placemats and 15 - according to Chuck Kelly, assistant IFA chief.

        Kelly said he believes Embroidered Placemats the fire started from a candle that was left burning on a kitchen window sill then likely caught the curtains on fire or burned itself into the wood.

        No one was home at the time.

        Kelly said the fire was discovered by Sherene Hess's brother, who lives nearby, and who stopped at the Hess home to do laundry. He found the room charred with black smoke, Kelly said.

        He managed to get a bucket of water on it. That helped tremendously,'' Kelly said. ``We're lucky he found it when he did. It actually almost burned itself out.''