Fire quickly destroyed a Plymouth townhouse Tuesday morning.

The lone occupant, a man in his 40s, noticed a large amount of smoke filling his townhouse after he started a fire in his fireplace, said Deputy Fire Chief Kip Springer. He ran outside and called 911.

The fire, which started at 11:30 a.m., was knocked down in 10 minutes. The man's townhouse was one of four in a complex in the 2700 block of Shenandoah Lane. The other three weren't damaged.

DAVID CHANEN