A sprinkler system and quick-acting staff members were credited with helping avoid injuries after a one-alarm fire broke out early yesterday at a Hunt Valley nursing home.

The fire started at 3:30 a.m. at the Bonnie Blink Masonic Home of Maryland, 300 International Circle, when combustibles ignited near a light fixture, Baltimore County fire officials said.

The blaze, confined to the nursing home section of the 235-bed campus, was almost immediately doused by an automatic sprinkler system.

Five residents and employees were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for possible smoke inhalation.

Three others were treated at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. All were released.

"Everything worked well," said the facility's administrator, Stephen Pazulski. "No one had to stand outside; everyone was moved to our dining rooms until any danger passed."

Capt. Jim Korn of the county Fire Department said much of the two-story facility was damaged by water, "but the sprinklers essentially had the fire out by the time our firefighters arrived on the scene."