Officials say a cigarette smoked by a house sitter or the sitter’s guest started a fire that damaged a Lincoln house.

Firetrucks were dispatched a little after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Officials say firefighters had the fire under control in about 15 minutes, after they cut holes in the roof for ventilation and ripped down ceilings in their search for flames.

City Fire Inspector Roger Chapp says a house sitter was keeping watch at the house while the owners were in Mexico.

Chapp says the house sitter had a guest over to the house and that one of the two left a cigarette in an ashtray. Chapp says the cigarette was blown onto the back deck, where the fire began.