CENTRALIA — Centralia City firefighters responded Thursday morning to a report of smoke coming from a room at the Home Motel on West Noleman in Centralia.

The initial call came in around 9 a.m. from a person staying in a neighboring room who had smelled smoke.

The room was reportedly rented to Ernie Whipple.

Centralia Fire Chief John Lynch asked police to be on the lookout for Whipple because he had some questions for him.

Whipple was ultimately found in Wamac and taken to speak with Lynch. It was subsequently decided that Whipple had rented the room but had left prior to the fire.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire to just one corner of a single room and to quickly knock it down, leaving just heavy smoke damage to the one room and light smoke in connecting rooms.

Smoke moving into the attic area from the room led firefighters to momentarily worry that the fire had spread to other rooms.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office was called in to investigate.