People preparing to have a fish fry Saturday came close to having a house fry.

If firefighters had arrived even a minute later, the house at 2513 E. Ave D (Click here for map) might have gone up in flames, said Capt. Dale Snyder, of the Bismarck Fire Department.

Flames were already on the basement doorway and coming up the south side of the house when firefighters arrived at 4:04 p.m. to put out a blaze caused by an unattended deep-fat fryer that caught on fire when snow on a deck above dripped into its oil.

"Once it got into the house, it would have been tough (to stop)," Snyder said.

Snyder said firefighters arrived on scene three minutes after getting the call and then had it out in about another three minutes.

Snyder said the fryer was only about two feet from the house and should have been at least 10 feet away - and, of course, it should have been attended at all times.

The person who was warming the oil had gone into the lower apartment of the house, at 25131/2 E. Ave D, to prepare potatoes.

After discovering the fire, he tried to contain it by putting a piece of cardboard on top of the fryer, and then when he took the cardboard off, the flames really took off, he told firefighters.

Snyder said the best thing to do in a cooking fire is to cover it with a noncombustible material like a garbage can cover, call 911 and "get us rolling."

"Even if it turns out to be nothing,"he said. "The earlier we get there, the better."

Snyder estimated the damage at $10,000.

The basement was filled with smoke, but Snyder thought the residents would be able to stay there Saturday night.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)