LEWISTON – Fire ripped through a two-family apartment house porch on Howe Street on Thursday afternoon, sending tenants scrambling for safety and bringing firefighters out in scorching heat.

Fire crews made fast work of the blaze at Howe and Sabattus streets, but police had to block off nearby streets and parking lots as mop-up efforts got underway.

Nobody was hurt in the 2 p.m. fire at 2 Howe St. but the American Red Cross was sending representatives to assist four people left homeless in the blaze.

Investigators later said a cigarette flicked into mulch outside the home started the blaze, which caused an estimated $50,000 damage.

Lewiston fire investigator Paul Ouellette was one of the first at the scene. He had been driving on Bradley Street, he said, when he saw heavy smoke coming from nearby Howe Street.

Ouellette called the fire in and when he arrived flames were ripping from the front of the building. Another Lewiston fire inspector, Ryan Coleman, was also in the area and was at the scene minutes later.

Firefighters got the flames under control within minutes. Flames blackened the front of the porch and the beams beneath it, but crews stopped the blaze before it spread to the upper floors or to an attached garage.

Once the fire was out, Ouellette and Coleman began searching for a cause. Ouellette, the primary investigator, said the cause was improper disposal of smoking material – mulch set ablaze outside spread to the porch and the flames spread quickly.

The building owned by Terry Ricker was boarded up Thursday night.