Two dogs were rescued by two college students from a house fire Thursday afternoon in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue responded to the fire on the 16700 block of Alexander Manor Drive around 2:30 p.m.

Officials said the fire took place inside the garage and believe that charging lithium-ion batteries sparked the blaze.

“If (batteries are) making noise or they smell funny or they’re very hot to the touch, something’s wrong,” Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer said.

“It was completely dark, couldn’t breathe and then by the time we got out, I actually started seeing the fire,” Matt Dymowski told NBC 4 Washington. “Thankfully, we got out so fast.”

Homeowner Tom Kennedy and his sister weren’t hurt by the fire.

“I just am so happy that they are safe. It’s an unfortunate time anytime, but right before Christmas is very sad,” neighbor Katie Young told NBC 4 Washington.

Officials said the repairs from the house fire are estimated to cost about $500,000.

Below is a map of the area where the fire took place:

[google_map latitude=”39.13504084471196″ longitude=”-77.01920071818455″ zoom=”13″ height=”300px” location_label=”Montgomery County house fire” dynamic_map=”false”]

WTOP’s Tadiwos Abedje contributed to this story.