Fire officials have released additional details regarding Tuesday night’s house fire in Essex.
A 90-year-old woman and three police officers were injured in the single-alarm blaze.
Investigators have ruled the fire to be accidental. It began in a first-floor bedroom, where a heat lamp used to warm a pet lizard fell over and ignited.
Officers from the Baltimore County Police Department arrived at the home on Russell Frost Court at about 8 p.m. Fire units were dispatched at 8:06 p.m.
The officers found the elderly woman outside the home when they arrived. They went inside the house and attempted to put out the fire using an extinguisher, but evacuated after a short time and waited for fire personnel to arrive.
Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene and extinguished the fire. It was placed under control at just before 8:30 p.m.
The woman was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
The three officers were taken to Shock Trauma for treatment of minor injuries. All three officers were released on Tuesday night.
The lizard did not survive. Several dogs that were inside the house did survive.