HAYDEN — Fire officials believe a blaze Wednesday that left a home uninhabitable started on the back deck in a brooder box for baby chicks.

Tyler Drechsel, fire inspector for Northern Lakes Fire Protection District, said it was likely a heat lamp in the box that ignited the fire at 11000 N. Ramsey Road. The brooder box was made of cardboard and had wood chips and a heat lamp inside.

Nobody was home at the time of the fire. Firefighters were called out shortly after noon.

There were two dogs inside, but they were let out by a member of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

“There was a deputy driving by and actually saw the smoke coming out of the house,” he said.

The fire burned up the exterior wall in back by the porch, Drechsel said. It entered the attic through the soffit.

“With the air movement from the wind right now it probably helped the fire spread pretty fast through the attic space,” he said, speaking at the scene. The wind and air reached the attic through the gable vents, he said.

The fire burned mostly in the attic and on the deck, he said. Smoke detectors were in the home and operational, he said.

Approximately 20 to 25 firefighters from Northern Lakes, Kootenai County Fire and Rescue and the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department responded. Four engines were on scene.

Ramsey Road from Lacey Avenue north to Wyoming Avenue was closed off for two hours.

Fires in brooder boxes are not uncommon when the lamps come into contact with combustible materials.

“This time of year we tend to find a lot of these that occur,” Drechsel said. “We probably respond to eight to 10 fires around this time of year for this exact sort of thing.”