A volunteer firefighter sustained burns and four Ellsworth residents were without homes after a fire jumped from one residence to another late Saturday night.

The firefighter, which Chief Bob Kepka did not identify, was taken to the Ellsworth County Medical Center emergency room with burns to one hand, an ear and neck. He was later transferred to a Wichita hospital as a precaution.

Kepka said the firefighter was “doing fine” Monday morning.

Residents on West Second Street were awakened early Saturday, March 14, to sirens.

Authorities said a house fire started at 305 West Second St. at about midnight in a rental house owned by Treva Paden of Great Bend. Renters Cayden Cunningham and Dylan Lamb escaped uninjured.

The blaze then spread next door to 303 W. Second St. to the home of Marvin Dolezal and his brother, David, who was not at home at the time.

“I went to bed around 10 o’clock, Dolezal said.

Neighbors woke him up at 12:05 a.m.

“Thank God for my neighbors waking me up,” Dolezal said.

The brothers lost many of their possessions due to water damage.

Kepka said the fire started in the rental house and went undetected for quite a while. When firefighters arrived around 12:15 a.m., the house was engulfed, with fire shooting through the roof.

The fire jumped next door under the west eve of Dolezal’s house, and raced to the attic where it went undetected for some time. It traveled down the wall to the kitchen, eventually making its way to the basement.

Firefighters did an interior attack on the house at first, but ended up using the aerial fire truck to break holes in the roof with jets of water, an action that helped extinguish the flames.

The volunteers remained at the scene until about 7 a.m.

Three engines, a aerial, and three tankers were used to combat the fire. The tankers were needed for additional water, because of old water lines in the area.

Kepka said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

“It’s a good thing that Marvin’s neighbor’s woke him up, or he could have succumbed to smoke inhalation,” the chief said.