FRANKLIN — A family of six was displaced and two people suffered minor injuries in an early-morning fire Monday.

        An occupant of the home in the 100 block of East Second Street, Jonathan Simmons, was treated at Middletown Regional Hospital for smoke inhalation after he tried to fight the fire himself. Firefighter Kinrick Hamilton went to Southview Hospital for a sprained ankle.

        Reported around 5:30 a.m., the blaze caused about $75,000 damage to the structure and $35,000 to its contents, Fire Division Shift Commander Mike Perry estimated.

        “It was a stubborn fire,” he said, noting that assistance from neighboring departments was needed. “The construction of the house hampered the firefighting.”

        Cmdr. Perry said that the two-story home's “balloon construction” — in which wall studs continue in straight lines from bottom to top — created a chimney-like effect that allowed the fire to climb unobstructed.

        The blaze's origin was traced to an upstairs bedroom. The cause was undetermined.

        Although Mr. Simmons, his mother, his sister and her three children were all asleep in the house at the time of the fire, smoke detectors alerted them and they escaped quickly, Cmdr. Perry said. Firefighters rescued the family cat.

        The American Red Cross is providing emergency housing for the family.

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