A two-family School Street home has been declared uninhabitable by Auburn code enforcement officers following a fire that started from an unattended candle.

An occupant of the number 10 side of the 10-12 School St. residence was using candles to light the house because electricity had been shut off to the home, Auburn Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Mark Farrell said.

He went outside to use a pay phone and returned to find the house on fire around 10 a.m. Thursday, Auburn city police said.

It took firefighters about 20 minutes to put out the first-floor fire, Farrell said. There also is extensive smoke and heat damage to the second floor. Firefighters responded from a class at their training grounds on Quarry Road.

Some of the past occupants of the number 10 side had recently moved to the Oneida area and will be able to continue to stay there, said Christopher Molloy, the Cayuga County Red Cross director of emergency services.

The Red Cross also put up the four occupants of the number 12 side of the house at a hotel Thursday night. Social services were expected to kick in after that, Molloy said.

The case was turned over for review by the Auburn Police Department, but the APD cleared the fire of being suspicious.

The names of the occupants were not released Thursday by authorities.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Citizen.