URBANA — An Urbana man was not injured by a fire that heavily damaged his house in southeast Urbana early Thursday.

Urbana Fire Chief Mike Dilley said Jim Ennis had been gone about three hours when he returned to his home at 1012 Austin Drive just before midnight Wednesday, opened the door and smelled and saw smoke. He went to a neighbor's and called 911.

"We had fire showing from the front of the house in the living room on arrival," said Dilley.

Although the cause remains under investigation, the chief said the fire started in a back bedroom of the single-story home and spread to the living room. Firefighters found Ennis' cat deceased in the living room.

"It's badly damaged. What isn't fire-damaged is smoke- and heat-damaged," said Dilley. "There are a lot of contents in this house."

"We had to spend a little more time overhauling because we had more contents to move out. This guy truly was a collector. He collected a lot of stuff that was valuable," Dilley said, including CDs, videos and movie posters.

Dilley said Ennis is the only occupant.

He estimated damage to the house and contents at $80,000. Ennis told Dilley he'd be staying with relatives in Paxton.

Dilley said he had 21 firefighters at the house for almost three hours. Due to the extreme outside heat, he said they take extra caution.

"You really do have to watch it very carefully, keep people hydrated and rotate the in and out (frequently), he said.