ELKHART — Sarah Fletcher was quick to react when she saw flames coming behind her stove and extending throughout her kitchen early Tuesday morning.

Fletcher, of 57496 C.R. 100, was getting ready to go to work at Michiana Linen shortly before 4 a.m. when it happened.

“I was getting ready to take some trash out when the broom handle fell over behind the stove,” she said.

She said she heard gas seeping out of the stove before she saw flames coming from behind. That’s when she decided to walk outside, closing the door as she called for the fire department.

As she headed out of the house, she said she could see an orange light from where the flames were extending.

She walked to her neighbor’s house across the street and asked them if she could use their phone to call her husband, Ernest, who at the time was working.

Her cell phone had stopped working after she called for the fire department.

The Baugo Township Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire, but assistant chief Brian Gonzales said most damage was contained to the kitchen and dining area. Other areas in the house were also affected by fire, smoke and water.

The Fletchers will be staying at a hotel while the damage to their residence is assessed.

Fletcher, who had lived in that house for about 27 years, said her family had never had an incident like the one she experienced Tuesday morning.

“It was pretty scary,” she said. “At first I thought I was dreaming. I was stunned.”