One person died and three others were injured after a fire swept through a West Ames duplex early Monday morning.

Edgar Del Pilar died of smoke inhalation on the second floor of the duplex, said Clare Bills, public relations officer for the city of Ames.

Del Pilar was currently taking a semester off from school at Iowa State.

At 3:16 a.m. Monday, firefighters were dispatched to a house fire at 1020 Garfield Ave., said Ames Fire Chief Clint Peterson.

The fire was most likely caused from a candle in the basement of a duplex, officials said.

Jason Smolka, senior in electrical engineering; Roy Salcedo, program assistant for the ISU Honors program; and Alicia Iniguez, senior in biology, escaped and were treated for light burns and smoke inhalation, Peterson said.

Jessica Garcia, senior in family resource management and consumer sciences, is Iniguez’s roommate. She said Smolka suffered second and third degree burns.

The duplex and the adjacent duplex were lost to the fire. Until it is cleaned, the adjacent duplex is unlivable due to smoke damage, Petersen said. There was also at least one dog that perished in the fire.

Petersen said the victims staying on the second floor of the duplex had to escape through bedroom windows.

“At the time [the fire] was discovered, it was impossible for the people on the second story to pass through the front door,” Peterson said.

The fire was discovered when Smolka awoke to a smoke detector going off in the hallway. He didn’t realize the extent of the fire until he reached the hallway, which was engulfed in smoke, Garcia said.

She said Smolka attempted to put the fire out with an extinguisher and woke the others up.

Del Pilar was a good friend of Garcia’s. She had known him for four years, and although he was not a member of Sigma Lambda Beta, like Smolka and Salcedo, she said she always considered him one of them.

“He was always in a good mood, high spirited, and if you needed anything, he was there,” Garcia said.

“He was the kind of person you could count on.”

The Red Cross was dispatched around 4 a.m. to assist the three with their grief.

“As you can well imagine, the stress of losing a very dear friend is [paramount] in their minds,” said Trish Burket, Red Cross emergency service specialist.

Suzanne Wiggers, freshman in veterinary medicine, lives in the apartment next door, 4400 Westbrook Dr. #32. She said she was awakened by a dog barking and smoke detectors going off.

“It was just really, really scary,” she said.

Her parents, Ken and Mary, of Kelley, own both residences and surveyed the damage Monday afternoon.

“It’s such a stinking mess in there,” Ken said. “What do you do? Tear it down, put it in the dumpster, then look at it?”