Six people are displaced after an early morning fire in Tamaqua.

Tamaqua Fire Chief James Connely said the 1:20 a.m. fire at 210 W. Broad St. apartment building is accidental.

“The fire started in the first floor kitchen,” which is to the rear, he said, adding it was contained to that area and extinguished in 20 minutes.

Connely said the stove was accidentally turned on and oven mitts and items left on the stove caught fire.

“The kitchen was gutted by the fire,” he said.

When firefighters arrived they saw “the red glow” from the stove heating element.

The tenant of the first floor, Christine Yemm, who was home at the time of the fire, lives there with a 3-year-old child, two dogs and cat.

She was alerted to the fire from the second floor tenant, Catrina Mehallic, after her smoke detector went off. Yemm’s smoke detector was not working, Connely said.

All escaped. Both tenants are staying with family. The first floor is uninhabitable, Connely said. The cat is missing.

Mehallic shares the apartment with her boyfriend and two children, one of whom was not there.

The second floor had smoke and damage to a wall to that firefighters needed to open up. Total damages are estimated at $20,000, Connely said. He estimated property damages to the first floor at $5,000 and $1,000 to the second.

The first floor tenant did not have insurance. The second floor tenant did.

The homeowner, Ariel Colon, does not have insurance, Connely said.

The Tamaqua Fire Department and Lansford Rapid Intervention Team responded to the fire. Firefighters left about 40 minutes after arrival.