POCATELLO — Mayor Brian Blad was singing the praises of the city’s firefighters on Saturday evening after they saved two students and two cats from a burning Idaho State University student housing complex.

No humans were injured in the fire but one cat remains missing and the Schubert Heights complex on the campus’ south side suffered fire damage to multiple units, smoke damage throughout and some water damage.

The consensus after the fire, however, was that it could have been much worse if not for the Pocatello Fire Department, which had the fire mostly out in about an hour and safely evacuated the approximately 70 ISU students who called Schubert Heights home.

“We have a great Fire Department. They did a great job,” said Blad, who responded to the fire along with the Fire Department.

It’s unclear when students will be allowed to move back into the 51-unit Schubert Heights housing complex because of the extensive fire and smoke damage. ISU officials said they might know Sunday or Monday when students will be allowed to once again reside in the building, located on Bartz Drive near the Stephens Performing Arts Center.

The fire started accidentally around 6:30 p.m. Saturday in a fourth-floor unit at Schubert Heights when food was left on a stove for an extended period of time, firefighters said. The fire first ignited the unit’s kitchen, spread to the rest of the unit and then spread to other units in the complex.

The flames triggered Schubert Heights’ automatic fire alarm system, which notified the Fire Department that the complex was on fire.

When firefighters arrived they realized the two male students in the unit where the fire started were trapped in that fourth-floor unit. A Fire Department ladder truck was used to rescue the two students as well as their cat.

Firefighters then attacked the spreading fire from the roof as well as from inside the building. Flames and heavy smoke could be seen from outside the building for the first half-hour of the blaze until firefighters started to gain the upper hand on the fire.

Firefighters said that the fire was mostly out at 7:30 p.m. Saturday though they were still extinguishing a few hot spots.

Firefighters rescued another student’s pet cat during the fire but were still searching for one more cat as of 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

ISU officials said all of the evacuated students were initially taken to the university’s Turner Hall, from where they will receive new on-campus housing. ISU officials said they expected all of the approximately 70 students to be in new housing units by late Saturday night.

Bartz Drive was shut down because of the fire and ISU officials said the road won’t reopen until sometime Sunday when firefighters leave the scene.