A house fire in north Redding that nearly spread to another home and killed some chickens started because the residents left a heat lamp on while they were gone in an attempt to kill bed bugs, firefighters said Friday.

The fire at 671 Ridge Road broke out just after 12:15 p.m. and sent up a column of black smoke until crews could start putting out the flames on the second-alarm blaze.

Redding Fire Marshal Craig Wittner said the occupants were at a family outing and came home to find the home on fire.

Wittner said fire investigators eventually discovered that a heat lamp left on while the occupants were gone caught a piece of bedding on fire, and the flames then spread.

The fire then came close to spreading to another home, Wittner said.

The occupants of the house had been trying to kill bed bugs by leaving the heat lamp on, Wittner said.

The fire ended up killing some small chickens owned by the occupants that were trapped in a coop, but the rest of their pets escaped, Wittner said.

The fire did $190,000 in damage to the home and its contents, and it caused minor heat damage to the outside of the neighboring home, Wittner said.

"Heat lamps have destroyed dwellings in Redding in the past," Wittner said, noting the importance of keeping them away from belongings and having a sprinkler, which the home in question didn't.

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Alayna Shulman covers a little bit of everything for the Record Searchlight. In particular, she loves writing about the issues of this community through long-form storytelling. Her work often centers on local crime, features and politics, and has won awards for best writing, best business coverage and best investigative reporting in the California News Publishers Association's Better Newspapers Contest. Follow her on Twitter (@ashulman_RS), call her at 530-225-8372 and, to support her work, please subscribe.