The Kaiserslautern fire department extinguished an apartment fire Oct. 2, 2024, that claimed the lives of three cats. No one else was injured. (Jürgen Mayer/Kaiserslautern Fire Department)

A fire broke out late Wednesday afternoon in an apartment building on Rudolf-Breitscheid-Strasse in Kaiserslautern, near the city center.

No one was injured, but the fire claimed the lives of three cats according to a Westpfalz Polizei statement released Wednesday. Residents called emergency services after noticing smoke coming from the third floor apartment of a 71-year-old man who was not home at the time.

The local fire department arrived with four vehicles and 12 emergency personnel and extinguished the fire, according to the statement.

Building residents returned to their homes, but the apartment that caught fire remains uninhabitable. Polizei are investigating the cause of the fire, but there are no indications the fire was started intentionally.