Firefighters rescued a 79-year-old woman from a two-alarm rowhouse fire in the 500 block of Washington Street Tuesday afternoon, a city fire department spokesman said.

The fire started just after about 1:30 p.m., said the spokesman, Chief Kevin Cartwright. Firefighters arrived at the two-story brick building and saw the woman "in the window, enveloped in smoke," he said.

They used a ladder to rescue her, he said. Paramedics treated her for mild smoke inhalation and she was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where she was not listed in serious condition, Cartwright said.

Due to the intensity of the fire, both the roof and the rear of the house collapsed and spread to both adjacent houses, he said. Some power lines behind the building also came down.

No firefighters were injured, Cartwright said.