The Marshalltown Fire Department was dispatched to a report of a house fire early Saturday morning at 304 South Second Avenue.

Emergency response personnel from MFD, The Marshalltown Police Department, and Unity Point EMS were initially notified of the situation at 6:12 a.m.

When fire crews arrived on the scene, they discovered heavy smoke coming from a house, which had been converted from a single-family unit to a multi-family dwelling. Firefighters gained entry to the burning structure through the front porch, at which time they determined the floors to be unstable with fire coming from the basement.

Firefighters initially applied water through a hole in the floor and then worked to contain the fire through some basement windows. The ground level floor of the house later collapsed, forcing firefighters to continue their attack from outdoors.

The water supply for the fire was interrupted for several minutes after a fire hydrant broke, but a second hydrant was eventually located nearby allowing fire crews to resume normal operations.

Eviction notices had been posted outside the house in December, although people were still living inside the structure at the time of the fire, according to a press release issued by the Marshalltown Fire Department.

A follow-up investigation by the Marshalltown Fire Department revealed that the fire started in the basement, although the exact source of the fire has not yet been determined. No injuries were reported. The house and its contents were described as a total loss.