The Ludowici-Long County Fire Department responded to a house fire Monday afternoon on Mill Pond Road.

No injuries were reported.

The home’s owner, Stanley Harris, said the fire started in the kitchen. He wasn’t sure how it started, as he rents the home to Rhonda Bacon and her family.

“My 14-year-old son was trying to cook some french fries for his sister,” Bacon said. “I suppose it was a grease fire, as there was grease all over the stove. I really don’t know. Maybe the stove got too hot.”

Fire Chief Shawn Smith said the first two firefighters to arrive at the home were Harold Harris and Austin DeLoach. They quickly stopped the fire from spreading and put it out, he said. After pulling the stove back from the wall and disconnecting it from the outlet, they noticed the wall still was unusually hot, so they cut into it to verify the fire had not gotten into the wall.

 “It started on the stove, so we suspect it was a grease fire,” Smith said. “There were two young children in the house trying to cook. The boy was still trying to put the fire out when we arrived. He wasn’t burned, but he had some smoke inhalation, so we put him on oxygen for a while.”

Smith said that since the fire was determined to have been accidental, their investigation is over. The smell of smoke filled the house, and since the kitchen still was wet with an inoperable stove, the homeowner advised Bacon and her family to stay somewhere else until an insurance-company representative could assess the damage.

Other firemen arriving on the scene were Chief Richard Truman and firefighters Tyler Hall and Bob Heflley. Smith said emergency medical services and the Long County Prison’s fire team also were on hand