Firefighters rescued two people from a second floor as a fire tore through a three-story Fairfax County town house early Tuesday. Fairfax County firefighters were called to the 100 block of Fortnightly Boulevard in Herndon, Virginia, for a fire in a middle-unit town house. The home’s two occupants were asleep when the fire broke out and were awakened by a functioning smoke alarm, the department said. They were blocked from leaving through the front door by heavy smoke and were evacuated by ladder from a second-floor balcony. One resident was transported to a hospital for a checkup, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department said in a news release. A cat was found dead, it added; no firefighters were injured.  

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Investigators traced the fire back to an electrical setup in the garage, where a motorcycle was hooked up to a trickle charger. Losses are estimated at around $253,550. That figure does not include water damage to adjacent home and the loss of a car and two motorcycles in the home’s garage. Firefighting units from neighboring Loudoun County and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority assisted in fighting the two-alarm blaze.