No one was injured after a business caught fire Sunday afternoon in Palmerton.

Borough fire Chief Jason Behler said firefighters were dispatched at 5:38 p.m. to the Hunan House, 493 Delaware Ave., for a structure fire.

Behler said the fire was reported to be on the roof of the building, and that when firefighters arrived on scene, since there was minimal smoke and he did not visually see any active fire, continued in their initial structure dispatch

“The first engine arrived on scene, I had them go to the roof, which was a little bit of a challenge because our aerial is out of service so we had limited ground ladders which proved a little difficult,” Behler said. “The people (doing) repair work to the roof noticed a fire had started and attempted to put it out themselves.”

Behler said he believes it was a passer-by that called in the fire and dialed 911, and added the damage was relatively minimal because it was caught early enough.

“It was unknown to the people working on the roof that it actually got in behind the parapet wall, at the base of that the fire worked its way in behind that,” he said. “(We) used a saw to cut out the access to the backside of the parapet wall, and used water fire extinguishers to extinguish the little bit that was burning in behind that parapet wall.”

Behler added they used thermal imaging cameras to keep an eye on it to make sure it wasn’t generating any more fire, and were able to put it under control very quickly and turn the structure back over to the business.

He added there were no injuries.

Behler said the cause of the fire is accidental and done by repair work being done to the roof.

He said firefighters remained on scene until 6:27 p.m., as a lot of that was precautionary to ensure the fire was properly extinguished.

Behler said also assisting at the scene were the Aquashicola Fire Department, Bowmanstown Fire Department, and Diamond Fire Company of Walnutport RIT Team.

“A lot of people have been hesitant to call 911, either maybe (for) fear of being billed or not having the fire department come,” he said. “But it’s always better to be safe than sorry; we provide a service, no one gets billed for this.

“I would just always encourage if something happens, instead of trying to take care of it yourself, just don’t fear it to dial 911. Call early, as soon as you can.”