Chapel Hill, N.C. — Firefighters evacuated animals from the Orange County Animal Shelter Monday afternoon and treated some for smoke inhalation after a clothes dryer caught fire in a laundry room.

"Several animals near the source of the fire received smoke inhalation and were treated by firefighters at the scene," Deputy Chapel Hill Fire Chief Matt Lawrence said.

The dryer was used in laundering animal bedding and towels at the facility at 1081 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Lawrence said.

Firefighters kept knocked down flames quickly and began using fans to draw smoke out of the building, Lawrence said. They limited fire damage to the laundry room.

Chapel Hill police helped firefighters move animals to parts of the shelter away from the smoke.

Lawrence said the fire served as a reminder that clothes dryers need to be kept free of built-up lint so they are not fire hazards and that they should be monitored when in use.