BATON ROUGE — Three firefighters were taken to a hospital after battling an attic fire at an apartment building on South Harrells Ferry Road on Monday afternoon, according to fire officials.

The East Side Fire Department responded to the fire at 16441 South Harrells Ferry Road, where crews arrived to find an active fire in the attic of a 16-plex apartment building. A lightning strike from the afternoon thunderstorms is believed to have ignited the flames.

Four dogs were trapped inside one of the units. Firefighters forced entry and rescued all four dogs and the fire was contained to a single apartment.

The Baton Rouge Fire Department and St. George Fire Department assisted with the rescue and extinguishment, according to a prepared statement.

Two East Side Fire Department firefighters and one Baton Rouge firefighter were treated on-site by East Baton Rouge EMS and transported to a local hospital for heat exhaustion.