A three-alarm fire just northwest of Slidell Friday morning left a house heavily damaged, according to St. Tammany Fire District 1 officials.

Fire Prevention Chief Neil Ricca said one of the owners of the home was smoking a cigarette outside her house at 61002 Clabon St. when she smelled something suspicious around 11:30 a.m. Friday.

As she went inside to investigate the smoke alarm went off. She woke her husband and they both left the house after calling 911. When firefighters arrived, the house was 50 percent involved in flames, Ricca said.

It took three engines and 17 firefighters about 20 minutes to bring the fire under control, and the fire was totally extinguished by 2:13 p.m.

Ricca said the woman had gone back into the house to rescue her dog before firefighters arrived, and she was attempting to go back in to save some smaller pets.

But firefighters would not allow her back in. Firefighters faced some challenges while they tried to extinguish the fire, Ricca said.

The blaze caused a live power line to fall to the ground, and the homeowner, a hunter, told firefighters he had a stockpile of ammunition in his hallway.

“That made things kind of interesting,” Ricca said.

Firefighters were able to get inside the house to battle the flame, and none of the ammunition was affected by the blaze.

Firefighters determined the cause of the fire was a bed that had been pushed up against an electrical wall outlet. Ricca said half the house was heavily damaged by smoke and flames.

“There was nothing suspicious about the fire,” Ricca said.

No one was injured in the fire, but Ricca said several small pets such as birds and gerbils died.

Firefighters didn’t have an exact count on the number of pets that died.