A fire that broke out at the Walker County American Red Cross building in Jasper Tuesday afternoon was quickly squelched before it could cause major damage.

Just after noon Tuesday, a fire started in a supply closet adjacent to the men’s bathroom of the American Red Cross facility on Viking Drive. Jasper Fire Chief Calvin Kluesner said the fast action of a person inside the building when the fire began helped to isolate the damage.

“One person thought fast enough to get a fire extinguisher and use it on the fire,” he said. “That contained it well enough until we could get here.”

Kluesner said there were three people inside the building when the blaze began, but no one was injured.

“Luckily no one was injured and most of the damage was contained to a small area,” he said.

Kluesner could not comment on what started the fire and said, “it is under investigation.”

Pam Fikes, executive director of the Walker County American Red Cross, said she was attending a meeting of the Rotary Club of Jasper when the fire broke out.

“We are so thankful, because this could have been much worse,” she said. “We definitely recommend people have fire extinguishers and a safety plan.”

The damage was contained to a small area in the supply closet, Fikes said.

“It was practically almost all smoke damage and some from the fire extinguisher,” she said. “The only things burned were some stuff on one shelf.”

Fikes said the office remained open despite the fire.

“We have not closed the doors and will not close the doors,” she said. “We have a company here already working to clean everything up and things should be back to normal by (Wednesday).”