POST FALLS — A fire destroyed a small chicken coop and killed three chickens in Post Falls on Friday morning.

Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Division Chief Dan Ryan said it is believed a heating lamp inside the 4-by-6 plywood coop caught straw on fire. The fire occurred at 4896 St. Anthony Lane north of 16th Avenue and east of Highway 41 at 9:25 a.m.

"A neighbor saw the coop burning and rolled it away from the house," Ryan said. "Nothing else was damaged by the fire. By the time firefighters got there, there wasn't much to do except squirt a little water on it."

Ryan said one of the chickens probably knocked down the heating lamp, into the straw at the bottom of the coop.

"It doesn't take much for heating lamps in straw to cause problems," he said.

The homeowner was not home at the time of the fire.

Ryan said it's fortunate that the neighbor spotted the fire; otherwise it could have spread to other structures.

"It may have also been a different situation if it happened in the middle of the night," he said.

Ryan said such fires are fairly common.

"If people use heating lamps to take care of their animals, they should try to find more ways to secure the lamps," he said. "Although the spring clamps on them seem fairly secure, they do get knocked off of what they are clamped onto."