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Firefighters arriving to battle a blaze at a Rockville house early Tuesday morning had to remove the residents who were trying to get back in to the home to save their pet birds.

All five residents were evacuated safely, but a search and rescue mission to save the birds was less successful — 22 of the 23 birds died in the fire, Assistant Chief Scott Graham reported.

It took some 75 firefighters from the Rockville, Gaithersburg and Kensington companies about 30 minutes to put out the fire, which had started in the basement, Graham said.

Firefighters arrived at the house in the 500 block of Mannakee Street just before 1:30 a.m.

The residents had a menagerie of parrots, parakeets and finches, Graham said. The sole survivor was a finch.

"Birds lungs are different from ours," said Ruth Hanessian, owner of Animal Exchange in Rockville.

Air goes directly to a bird's lungs and flows through to its air sacs, making it vulnerable to gas or toxins, she said. That is why canaries were used to check mines for gas, she added.

"They usually die of smoke inhalation first," Hanessian said.

Hanessian thought she had probably sold some of the birds to the home owners and was distressed to learn of their death. She called the birds' owner, who did not want to be identified, and learned the fire had started in the circuit-breaker box.

Fire investigators ruled the fire accidental, Graham said.

The residents of the house are displaced, Graham said. He estimated structural damage to the house at $100,000, with another $100,000 in damage to its contents.