A man using a blowtorch to burn weeds started a fire Wednesday night that spread to his house in a Rita Ranch neighborhood.
No one was injured in the blaze, but three residents, all in their 30s, were displaced from the home and planned to stay with relatives, said Capt. Barrett Baker of Tucson Fire Department.
Firefighters were dispatched shortly after 7 p.m. to the 10000 block of East Paseo San Bernardo when the man reported his house on fire, Baker said. The neighborhood is west of South Houghton Road and south of East Rita Road.
He smelled smoke and saw smoke coming from vents in the home, and when he went outdoors he saw flames near the ground along a wall where he had been burning weeds about an hour earlier, said Baker.
When firefighters arrived, flames were visible through a vent on the side of the house. A crew sprayed water into the vent and other firefighters were clearing tiles from the roof to pierce through the roof and spray water into the attic.
Twenty-three firefighters put the fire out, and the blaze was under control in 23 minutes, said Baker.
Fire investigators confirmed that the fire started after a blowtorch was used to burn weeds in the yard, and the fire spread into an exterior wall.
A damage estimate was not yet determined.
