A heater started a house fire Monday morning on Bunk Newell Road in Lauderdale County, damaging one bedroom.

Around 8:30 a.m. a wall-mounted heater set a fire in a bedroom and the three occupants – a homeowner and two children – evacuated with no injuries, according to Lauderdale County Fire Coordinator Alan Dover.

Dover said that the fire was contained to the one bedroom but that the house will likely be out of commission while being remodeled.

“People think that turning the knob all the way to the left means the heater is off but they’re just turning down the thermostat,” said Dover, who said he’d seen this type of fire before. “Then they put furniture in front of it.”

Neighbors noticed the residence burning and used a water hose on the blaze, helping volunteer firefighters to extinguish the fire in less than 30 minutes, Dover said.

Dover warned other homeowners with wall-mounted heaters to keep a 3-foot buffer around the heater, even if they think they’ve turned the heater “off.”

“There’s only one way to be safe,” Dover said.