VAN BUREN TWP. — The inside and outside of a home on Becks Grove Road was damaged by fire Friday afternoon, but firefighters say it could have been worse if the homeowners hadn’t stepped in with a garden hose.

The fire started in a stove inside the home in the 7900 block of Becks Grove. It was reported to dispatch as flames coming out of the chimney.

First Lt. Shawn Fosnight with Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department, who was in command at the scene, said that when firefighters arrived, there no flames visible outside. He said the homeowner and a neighbor were using a garden hose to help contain it to the chimney.

Fosnight said charring and damage was visible inside and outside the house near the chimney, but the home was still livable.

Fosnight said the chimney was old and had cracked and deteriorated, and that’s what caused the fire to spread.

The Southwest Bartholomew Volunteer Fire Department and Van Buren Township Volunteer Fire Department assisted on scene.