Although no one was injured, the fire caused heavy damage to the house off Club Boulevard in eastern Durham that the woman rented with her fiance.

Tonya Jones, 32 and the mother of three children, said she was cooking pork chops shortly before 9 p.m. when she received a phone call that her fiance's grandmother had died at Durham Regional Hospital. "I grabbed my keys and got in the car and left," she said.

Jones said she returned to the Dearborn Drive house about 30 or 40 minutes later and immediately realized what she had done after she saw flames shooting through the kitchen window. "As soon as I hit Dearborn, I said, 'Oh, my God. I left that [stove] eye on,' " she said. "I dialed 911 before I got out of the car."

Firefighters from a nearby Club Boulevard station arrived within a couple of minutes, and took about five minutes to put out the fire, said Battalion Chief Nate Boyd. He said the most extensive fire damage was contained to the kitchen, but that the entire house was heavily damaged by smoke.

Police and fire crews blocked off Dearborn Drive shortly after arriving, while neighbors stood in their yards watching the scene. A front window on the square, brick house had blown out, and flames scarred the roof and shutters. The interior was blackened by fire. Jones, who stood outside in disbelief, was supported by several friends from her job as an assistant manager at the KFC-Taco Bell restaurant in Wellons Village. By around 11 p.m., she still hadn't been able to enter the house and said she was ready to survey the damage. "I just spent $500 on a nice aquarium set," she said, noting that her daughter likes fish.

Jones said her family probably would stay the night with other family members.