URBANA - A lamp used to keep chicks warm may have been the cause of a fire that destroyed two yard sheds in north Urbana early Thursday morning.

Champaign County sheriff's Sgt. Dave Coffey said he was on patrol at 4:20 a.m. when he saw flames coming from one of the two sheds at the back of Lee Pardy's property at 5106 N. Cunningham Ave. Coffey said when he knocked on the door, Pardy was already on the phone calling for help.

Coffey said someone had given the family baby chicks as an Easter gift and they were in one of the sheds, being kept warm with a lamp. The heat apparently started straw on the floor on fire. The flames from one of the yard sheds jumped to the other, destroying both, Coffey said. 

Thomasboro firefighters put out the fires. They were at the house about 90 minutes.

Coffey said Pardy reported having a riding mower, push mowers, a tiller, an outboard boat motor, sewing machines, a trailer hitch, and two extension ladders stored in the sheds, all of which was lost. Damage to the sheds and contents was estimated at $7,475.