BATON ROUGE - First responders were dispatched to two separate house fires that broke out within less than two hours of each other on Thursday night and early Friday morning; the homes are located within a mere 3 mile proximity of each other. 

The night of devastating house fires began at 10:12 p.m., Thursday when personnel with the Baton Rouge Fire Department (BRFD) were dispatched to a home within the 200 block of North 17th Street.

Upon arrival, firefighters found the home completely engulfed in flames.

The blaze was quickly extinguished but not before it damaged two near-by vehicles.

Officials say the home is a total loss.

No injuries were reported during the incident and BRFD representatives say the cause of the fire is currently unknown and remains under investigation.

Less than two hours later, around 12:05 a.m., firefighters were dispatched to a vacant home within the 1800 block of Kentucky Street where they discovered flames coming from the back of the house.

As the home was locked and unoccupied, firefighters had to force their way inside to get to the blaze and extinguish it.

Officials note that this same home recently sustained another fire, which was traced back to its water heater.

So, authorities will conduct a thorough investigation later Friday morning to confirm whether or not this recent fire was also caused by the water heater.

In their report, officials noted that the flames firefighters extinguished early Friday morning were in close proximity to the  home's water heater.