A man and two children escaped from their smoke-filled North Lawrence home this afternoon after a fire started in the kitchen.

Fire crews were called to 443 Maple St. shortly after 3 p.m., responding to a fire in a single-family house.

Firefighters found heavy smoke in every room of the house, but managed to get the fire under control in about 30 minutes.

“There were some small children in the dwelling and immediately, when they saw the smoke and a little bit of fire in the kitchen area, they got everybody out,” said Mark Bradford, deputy chief of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical.

Brian Proctor said he was thankful his family was able to escape injury.

Proctor said he was talking on the phone to his wife when his son said he smelled smoke.

“I look in there and there’s smoke everywhere and the kitchen is on fire,” Proctor said. “The stove caught on fire first, I guess, because it was just a blaze everywhere.”

The Red Cross will be providing assistance to the Proctor family in the coming days. There was no word yet this afternoon on the extent of damage the house sustained.