Mischief on the part of children led to the destruction of an East Sixth Street home Thursday afternoon.

According to law enforcement officials, one or more of the children living at the home were playing with matches on the front porch of the small rental home when the vinyl siding caught fire.

“When we pulled up, the whole front porch was fully involved,” said Washington Fire Chief Robbie Rose. “About 25 percent of the house has fire damage. The rest has smoke damage.”

The emergency call went out at 4:20 p.m. At 4:40 p.m., the flames were being battled by firefighters from both Washington stations, as well as volunteers from Bunyan Fire Department.

“There was a lot of fire showing,” said Lt. William Chrismon, spokesman for the Washington Police Department.

Firefighters put down the flames within minutes, but would continue to fight flare-ups for the next hour, at one point sending a deluge of water onto the still-burning beams of the front porch roof from one fire truck’s water cannon.

According to a witness, the owner of the home was at work when the fire started. His three children, ages 11 and under, were at home, but all escaped the burning house and waited at a neighbor’s home until their father arrived. No one was injured in the blaze.

Later in the evening, representatives from the local chapter of the American Red Cross met with the family at the fire scene. American Red Cross provides shelter, food and other services to disaster victims.