A woman and her pets died in an early-morning blaze Sunday in the Belair-Edison neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore, fire officials said.
Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright said the fire broke out at about 2:30 a.m. in the 4000 block of Shannon Drive, and the two-story brick rowhouse was filled with smoke when firefighters arrived approximately 10 minutes later.
They discovered the body of a woman on the first floor, a part of the house consumed by fire. The state medical examiner will determine an official cause of death, but Cartwright said firefighters believe smoke inhalation and burns were to blame. It's unclear whether the home had working smoke detectors.
The woman's husband made it out of the house without injury, but a cat and a dog also died in the fire, the fire department said.
One firefighter sustained minor burns while battling the blaze, Cartwright said.
The fire did not spread to other rowhomes, he said.
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