The St. Joseph Fire Department is attributing the cause of a Monday evening house fire to a lit cigarette.

According to fire inspector Steve Henrichson firefighters responded to the 1300 block of Jackson St. just after 10:20 Monday evening.

When crews arrived the first floor of the home was already fully involved.

Henrichson said they believe the fire started after the homeowner fell asleep on the couch while smoking a cigarette.

“He said he was smoking and figured he dropped his cigarette because when he woke up his feet were hot and the smoke detectors were going off,” Henrichson said.

He said the homeowner went outside of the house to try and grab a hose to put out the fire but when he came back the fire had quickly gotten out of control.

“He had all the windows in the house open and he lived at the top of the hill so he had a really good breeze at the top of the house,” Henrichson said. “Of course when you have oxygen it feeds a fire.”

The homeowner was able to escape with one of his dogs but was still looking for a second dog Tuesday morning.

“We didn’t find the other dog in the structure and one of the neighbors said they saw the other dog out running around,” Henrichson said.

The home is estimated to be a complete loss of around $85,000 with the structure and contents.

Family is assisting the homeowner at this time.