A 69-year-old Columbia woman suffered minor injuries last night after dropping a candle on her floor and starting a fire that was quickly stopped by a sprinkler system.

Yvonne Baumgartner suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to Howard County General Hospital for treatment, firefighters said.

About 6: 50 p.m., Baumgartner was reaching for her afghan on her floor when she dropped the candle, said Capt. Sean Kelly of the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services.

She tried to smother the fire with the afghan, but the cloth ignited and she fled the apartment in the 7000 block of Cradlerock Way, Kelly said.

Firefighters arrived several minutes later and found the small blaze extinguished.

"The sprinkler system gave us additional time" to get here, said Battalion Chief George Morgan. "It kept the fire in check."