Two homeowners discovered the street in front of their house full of fire trucks Thursday afternoon as firefighters were inside their home extinguishing a fire.

Chad LeVrouw, 26, and Don McMillan, 27, of 428 W. Lincoln Highway, found a smoldering attic and hole in their roof after firefighters from eight different departments put out the fire in their recently purchased home.

The fire was a result of heat from a bedroom closet ceiling light that ignited surrounding flammable materials in the attic – causing $75,000 in damage, fire officials said.

“The only real damage was to the attic, the hole in the roof and some water damage in the bedrooms,” LeVrouw said.

The house cat, Karma, was the only one home during the fire and was unharmed.

While most of the firefighters went into the home through the main entrance, others were forced to climb in through the roof.

“Putting a hole on the east side of the roof allowed gases to vent out the top,” said Capt. Scott Love of the DeKalb Fire Department.

“If [the roof] stays intact, it gets so hot that the floor starts to bank down,” Love said.

Forty-four firefighters from DeKalb, Sycamore, Malta, Shabbona and Burlington reported to the scene after a passerby reported seeing smoke coming out of the home at 2:30 p.m., Love said. The fire was under control 30 minutes later. Genoa, Cortland and Waterman also offered aid.

“We didn’t know exactly which house it was,” Love said. “We just knew it was on the 400 block. It wasn’t hard to pick out. There was smoke coming out of the front of the house.”

“I heard the sirens and went to turn the water on,” said neighbor Tracy Ward of 420 W. Lincoln Highway. “There wasn’t any water. I just put two and two together.”

Ward did her best to contact LeVrouw’s real estate company to get ahold of the resident.

“We’ve never even been in the attic,” LeVrouw said.

LeVrouw and McMillan, who moved into the house Sept. 7, are covered by homeowners insurance.

It will be four to five days before they can go back into the house, LeVrouw said, who will spend the next few nights at his parents’ home in Sycamore.

“The damage isn’t too bad inside, “he said.