An aging fireplace is to blame for a house fire on Wortley Rd. on Friday morning.
London firefighters were called to the home at 425 Wortley Rd, near Mountsfield Dr. around 4am after the homeowner noticed smoke filling the basement.
"What the crews found was that a fire had occurred behind the fireplace and into the joist area due to overtime pyrolysis and there was some heating going on behind the wall," said Platoon Chief Al Braatz.
Fire crews had to dismantle the fireplace and open up the surrounding wall and floor to extinguish the blaze.
"It's not one of our typical calls where you charge in, there's a large fire, large amount of heat and smoke, where you can't see your hand in front of your face," said Braatz. "This is more of a delicate operation."
Braatz, who recommends homeowners have their fireplace cleaned annually, said the fire could have been a lot worse had no one been at home at the time.
"It wasn't a real large fire but it was something that occurred behind a wall and was structural. Had it not been detected it could have grown to something quite large," said Braatz.
No one was hurt in the blaze. A damage estimate is not yet available.