Teens Injured in Mace Avenue House Fire

A boy suffered a broken arm and two girls suffered smoke inhalation after the vacant home where they were staying illegally in Essex caught fire Sunday morning.

According to police reports, the boy, 17, and the girls, ages 14 and 16, were asleep in the home on the 100 block of Mace Ave. when the fire awakened them around 3 a.m. The teens escaped the blaze by climbing to the roof of the home, which is close to .

The boy broke his arm after he jumped off the roof while the firefighters rescued the girls from the top of the house. Paramedics transported the boy to Johns Hopkins Bayview, where he was turned over to his grandmother, according to police.

Police said the girls had both been reported missing and were turned over to their guardians after being treated at .

The boy told police he is not sure how the fire started, although he said they  had lit a candle, which they believed was extinguished before they went to sleep.

According to police, one of the girls said they knew the house was vacant and added that a lot of kids use the residence for “hanging out.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.