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A Southwest Side family was displaced by a fire Saturday that caused about $70,000 worth of damage to their home, a fire official said.

The Red Cross helped the seven-member family — four children, a mother, a father and a grandmother — find accommodations after their house was severely damaged by smoke, said Tracy Koslowski, a Drexel Heights Fire Department spokeswoman.

The Fire Department received the call around 1 p.m. and it took 18 firefighters about 35 minutes to extinguish the blaze in the 3100 block of West Calle Del Cerro, near West Valencia Road and South Camino De La Tierra.

The father and three of the children were in the home at the time of the fire. They heard the smoke detector and called 911 from a neighbor's home, which is exactly what they should have done, Koslowski said, emphasizing the importance of having working smoke detectors.

"For this family, it could have been the difference between life and death," she said.

When firefighters arrived they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the eaves of the house, Koslowski said.

The fire started either in the laundry room or a nearby carport that had been converted into a storage area, she said.

A fire investigator was still at the scene Saturday night to determine the cause of the fire.