No one was injured in a house fire caused by a generator Monday near Clinton.

South Whidbey Fire/EMS arrived at the Twilight Lane residence around 11:42 a.m. on Feb. 21, according to Deputy Chief Terry Ney.

The blaze was reported by a neighbor, who heard crackling and saw a column of smoke coming from the home. The resident was inside but hadn’t seen, heard or smelled the fire, which was contained to the exterior of the structure.

A total of 15 personnel responded to the fire and stayed on scene for two hours, Ney said. A generator located within inches of the side of the house, which was being used during the power outage, was found to be the cause of the fire.

Ney said it is unknown whether the generator malfunctioned and caught on fire first, or if it was just too close and the heat caught the vinyl siding on fire. It’s more likely the generator burned the siding of the house first before going up in flames itself.

The flames spread up a two-story wall of the house, into the soffit and laterally along another wall.

“It did get into the old wood siding underneath the vinyl, as well as into some structural members on the front of the house, so we had to do a lot overall including stripping a lot of siding to get down to unburned wood,” Ney said in an email.

The blaze did not extend into the interior of the home, although firefighters did vent the inside of the house for its residents.

The loss estimate is unknown at this time. There was no loss of contents, except for the generator that ignited.