A Saturday chimney fire at a southwest Austin home started unintentionally, but specifics on the blaze’s cause were not yet available as of early this week.

Brian Lovik, the acting Austin fire chief, said he had yet to gather information from the firefighters who responded to 1906 10th St. SW at around 2:40 p.m. to fight the fire, which remained isolated in the chimney area.

However, Lovik did say the blaze was “unintentional.”

At least three family members were inside when one noticed bubbling paint on the ceiling and called 911. They then safely evacuated the home, according to a police report.

Firefighters propped a ladder against the chimney and were able to extinguish the flames as a large amount of smoke billowed out.

Lovik said the most important thing to remember about chimney safety is to clean them on a regular basis.

He said without cleaning, creosote can dangerously build up in a chimney, which can make a fire more likely.

Lovik added that it is the responsibility of the homeowner to properly maintain a chimney.

And it is certainly a very important responsibility — on average, there are 25,400 chimney fires in the country each year, according to the Chimney Safety Institute of America. This makes chimney fires more common than fires stemming from any other type of residential heat source.

Chimney fires also lead to an average of 10 deaths per year, the CSIA reports.