Thanks to quick action from the first firefighters on the scene, it wasn't three pets.
Dundalk Engine 6 was the first unit on the scene after getting the call at 9:45 a.m.
"As soon as I told them a dog was in the house, they busted their butts getting into the house," said Lewis McConnell of Cornwall Road. "One firefighter stopped unrolling the hose, went right up to the door and started kicking the door down."
Firefighters found the Doberman pinscher, named Soldier, on the first floor, said Capt. Tom Kimbel of Station 6.
"We got the report that the dwelling was locked up and no one was home," Kimbel said. "When we learned there was a dog inside, we had to force entry through the front door. We found the dog on the first floor, secured him and gave him oxygen."
A green-cheeked Amazon parrot named Max was on the second floor, along with a small lizard, Both succumbed to smoke inhalation before firefighters reached them.
Fire investigators determined it was an accidental electrical fire caused by a power strip in the bedroom where it started, Fire Department spokesman Capt. Glenn Blackwell said. The fire caused an estimated $70,000 in damages.
The house was home to a family of four, according to Lisa Burgess, sister of one of the residents. Dennis and Kelly Perkins were away that morning, while their children, Kimberly, 18, and Jeffrey, 10, were visiting their grandmother, Christina McMillan of Baltimore.
"The firefighters told them, another 20 minutes and the whole house would have been gone," Burgess said.
Flames were kept confined to one room in the rear of the house, Kimbel said. A ventilation hole had to be knocked in the roof and some of the fire spread to the attic, but homes on either side of the house were not affected.
"When we arrived, fire was showing out of the back bedroom and heavy smoke was coming out of the front of the home," Kimbel said. "Inside, we found heavy smoke conditions on the first floor and heavy fire on the second floor.
"Crews knocked the fire down in the back bedroom, put a real good stop on it and prevented it from spreading outside the room."
Several cherished household items in the front upstairs bedroom were spared from destruction, Kimbel said, suffering only smoke and light heat damage.
Units from Dundalk, Edgemere, Eastview and the Wise Avenue Volunteer company responded. There was also ladder truck 15, Medic 6, EMS 106, EMS 3, and the Rockaway Beach Volunteer Air Unit, which resupplies the firefighter's oxygen tanks with air.
