A police officer helped extinguish a fire at a house across from the police station Wednesday morning.

Oak Harbor Fire Chief Ray Merrill said a passerby noticed smoke coming out of the crawl space of a house on Southeast Ireland Street at about 6:15 a.m.

The home was unoccupied at the time.

An officer got to the house first and used a pressurized water cannon — provided by the fire department — to slow the progress of the fire.

An engine truck, a ladder truck and two command vehicles from the fire department weren’t far behind.

Merrill said the responders extinguished the blaze in five to 10 minutes.

There was no fire or heat damage to the interior of the house, but the conflagration-related destruction was confined to the outside of the structure.

Merrill estimates the damage at $5,000.

The fire was started from a cigarette butt that was discarded in the beauty bark next to the house, according to the fire chief.