A residential fire on Eau Claire’s west side has left 10 people looking for somewhere to stay after flames broke out in a townhouse garage overnight.

Firefighters were called to the 2800 block of Prestige Court shortly after 1:27 Sunday morning, arriving to find smoke coming from a four-unit townhouse with attached garages.

Crews located the fire in one garage and moved quickly to keep it from spreading through the building.

Other firefighters searched the townhouse and confirmed that everyone had already made it outside.

No injuries were reported, a welcome outcome for a fire that struck while many residents would normally have been asleep.

The flames remained confined to the garage, though minor smoke damage reached the living areas.

For the people who live there, that distinction matters, but it does not erase the immediate problem of being unable to return home.

The Red Cross is helping the 10 displaced residents arrange temporary housing.

An Eau Claire townhouse fire can disrupt more than the unit where flames begin, especially when several households share one building and attached garages sit close to living space.

In this case, the fire did not spread beyond the garage, yet its effects reached residents throughout the property.

That is the hard part of an overnight emergency: even after crews put out the flames, families still face questions about where they will sleep and when they can return.

Eau Claire Fire Rescue has not released a damage estimate, and the cause remains under investigation.

Without those findings, it would be premature to say what started the Eau Claire garage fire or how much repair work the property may need.

What is clear is that firefighters kept the flames contained and everyone escaped without a reported injury.

For 10 neighbors now displaced, the next challenge is finding some stability while the investigation and recovery continue.