A car battery reportedly caused a fire at University Village apartments Wednesday, resulting in over $150,000 in damage to the 600-numbered apartments.

No one was hurt in the blaze at 915 Crane Drive, which took DeKalb firefighters nearly a half-hour to contain. The renter of apartment No. 601, where the structure fire began, is Clayton Armstrong, an NIU pre-business major who was home at the time. He declined to comment on the fire.

According to a report filed by Lt. David O’Donnell, alarms began sounding at 11:54 a.m. after a 12-volt vehicle battery stored near a first-floor bed came in contact with the bed’s metal box springs, creating sparks that ignited a bed cover.

Much of the building’s damage occurred in the interior hallway, with heavy heat and flames charring the stairway and front mailboxes. According to the report, Armstrong removed the bed cover from his room, thinking the sparks had stopped. However, the material continued burning and spread the fire to the hallway and an adjacent apartment.

The fire was contained before it could spread to upper apartments. Residents of the surrounding apartment complexes and their friends watched as firefighters stopped the source of smoke and broke open upper-floor windows as a safety precaution.

None of the 28 firefighters who responded to the call were injured.