A house in northern Saline County sustained $1,000 worth of damage after a fire Wednesday morning.

Deputies and Rural Fire District No. 7 personnel responded to the fire in the 5100 block of North Old 81 Highway shortly before 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Saline County Undersheriff Brent Melander said Thursday. Deborah Jackson told authorities that she had been inside the residence when it lost power and she heard a popping noise. She went outside and saw flames coming out of the corner of the house near where the main electrical line goes into the fuse panel box, Melander said.

Jackson and a neighbor used extinguishers to put out the fire, he said. RFD 7 personnel used their thermal imager to look for additional hot spots in walls, Melander added.

According to Melander, a short on the main line coming into the house caused the fire. He said that DS&O Electric Cooperative personnel had been working on power lines about that same time and that a power surge may have prompted the short.