The fire chief of the Winkler Fire Department says having a working smoke alarm likely saved a life early Thursday morning.

Richard Paetzold says they were called to a residential fire in the Village of Chortitz, southwest of Winkler, at 4:28 am yesterday.

He said the lone occupant of the two-storey home was woken up by the detector, and was able to escape the blaze. Paetzold said the individual did receive smoke inhalation was was treated by EMS on scene.

Fire damage was mainly kept to basement of the house, while he said there's smoke damage throughout the home.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.