ENGLEWOOD -- Two people were hospitalized early Monday after jumping out of a second-story window to escape a fire on the ground floor of their Shepard Avenue house, authorities said.

The fire started just before 3:30 a.m. on Shepard Avenue near the corner of Palisade Place, said Lt. Mike Johnston of the Englewood Fire Department. The blaze, which appeared to have started on the ground floor, was under control within a half-hour, he said.

Johnston said fire officials didn't have the names of the injured residents, whom he identified only as a 31-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman. They were taken to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center for treatment, he said, although the extent of their injuries wasn't clear Monday.

Two firefighters also were hospitalized for unspecified injuries, Johnston said.

The blaze remained under investigation Monday night, although Johnston said it didn't appear to have been deliberately set.

Neighbors said the family had lived there only for a year or so.

"I didn't see any flames or any smoke, so obviously whatever happened, happened inside," said one neighbor, a 57-year-old woman who declined to give her name. "You could smell the smoke, though."

-- William Lamb