8 people, puppy escape early morning fire

Eight people and a puppy are OK after escaping a fire early Monday morning.

The fire sparked inside a camper that was parked next to a home on Garland Court and caused damage to both structures, firefighters said. It's unclear if anyone was inside the camper when the fire started or if everyone was inside the house.

The call came in just after 3:20 a.m. The camper was engulfed in flames when crews reached the scene, said Colorado Springs Fire Department spokesperson Lt. Kevin Ducy.

"It was starting to spread also to ... a residence on the opposite side. [Firefighters] knock that down real quick. Only minor damage to that house."

Despite the lack of significant damage, the house will be off limits to the family for at least several hours, Ducy said.

The situation could have been far worse had one member of the family not been awake when the fire started.

"I did talk to one of the residents," Ducy said. "It’s a rental home. Said that the smoke detectors -- they do have them in the house; however, they had not gone off. Which I can see if it came from the exterior of the house to the interior. She happened to be up, thankfully, saw the fire, got out. She is the one that called 911."

Investigators are now working on finding the cause of the fire.

11 News is live at the scene now and will be updating this story as we learn more.