A preliminary investigation of a fire that destroyed a garage in the 2400 block of Shoreline Drive on Monday afternoon points to a running dryer.

No one was home when the fire broke out around 5:30 p.m.

When a tenant left the house about 20 minutes prior to fire breaking out, the dryer in the garage was running, Napa Fire Capt. Donnie Johnson said.

The damage from the fire was confined to the garage and the attic above, Johnson said. “We estimate the loss to be between $80,000 to $100,000.”

When firefighters arrived, a neighbor was using a garden hose to spray water into the garage underneath the door.

“The smoke was so heavy, you could not see the house from the street,” Johnson said. “Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to the house even though there was no separation between the attic in the garage and the house.”

Johnson said the garage was full of furniture, clothing, boxes, pictures and dressers. It looked as if they were storing someone’s belongings,” Johnson said. “There was also a lot of ammunition in the garage, but it didn’t cause any problems.”

Firefighters were on scene for more than two hours.