BATAVIA – A small fire in an unoccupied apartment at The Holmstad retirement community in Batavia led authorities to evacuate part of the building Thursday.

Battalion Chief Jami White with the Batavia Fire Department said firefighters responded to the site after an automatic fire alarm went off at 12:25 p.m. White said maintenance staff had been soldering a broken water pipe in the wall in a vacant apartment that faces Fabyan Parkway when a fire started behind the wall in the pipe chase.

Firefighters opened up the wall and extinguished the fire within minutes, White said. The fire filled the second and third floors of the building with smoke. White said firefighters stayed on-site about two hours to make sure the fire didn’t extend farther into the wall.