WILSON—A man using gasoline to clean paint from a carpet in the basement of his Ide Road home is believed to have triggered a fire shortly before noon Wednesday, Niagara County sheriff’s deputies said.

Jonathan Cheek, 67, of 5165 Ide, was vacuuming the rug after cleaning off the paint when the carpet caught fire, deputies said. A Wilson Volunteer Fire Company official speculated that static electricity was the culprit.

Damage was confined to a small part of the finished basement, but there was smoke damage throughout the home, deputies said. There was no damage estimate.