The flame from one candle turned into a blaze that caused about $10,000 worth of damage to a Knapp Hall dorm room over the weekend.

Three fire trucks were dispatched to Knapp Hall’s Rawson House, part of Towers, on the second floor at about 6:30 Friday night after an automatic detector within the building went off, said Capt. Lyle Scandrett of the Ames Fire Department.

Sgt. Richard Taylor said the fire was contained to Room 2204, and the flames were quickly extinguished.

“There were few visible flames by the time we arrived,” Taylor said. “After we got the hoses into the room, it took less than a minute to completely extinguish the flames.”

Taylor said the building’s construction prevented the fire from spreading.

“The dorm rooms are divided well, so fires like this can be basically contained to just one room,” he said.

Jamie Pittman, the room’s resident and freshman in biology, was not home when the fire occurred.

Officials said the fire was caused by a candle that Pittman left burning when she left her room at about 4:30 p.m. According to residence hall rules, students are not allowed to burn candles in their rooms.

Taylor said the $10,000 damage estimate includes various structural repairs that will be needed, as well as painting and cleaning costs and the loss of Pittman’s personal items, including a $2,300 computer destroyed in the blaze.

Jeni Nosbisch, a senior in German, was in her room on the third floor of the hall when the alarms sounded.

“We were all evacuated over to the commons, and a lot of people were stopping at the breezeway on the way over, and they were saying, ‘Look at the smoke,'” she said.

Students were allowed back in the building in less than an hour.