A major house fire sent two people fleeing through a window and extensively damaged an Oregon City home early Tuesday morning.

Firefighters were dispatched to a reported house fire at 1119 Summit Street at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. When fire crews arrived minutes later, they observed a two-level, 3200 square-foot home with a large amount of fire on the second level and an L-shaped deck around the home’s exterior. A second alarm was called at 1:06 a.m., bringing to the scene an estimated 40 firefighters from Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Clackamas County Fire District #1, Gladstone, and Lake Oswego. Firefighters had the fire knocked down and controlled shortly after 1:30.

The home’s owners, Louis and Maralee Worthington, were not home at the time of the fire, but a house-sitting couple were staying in the home: Raymond Moore and Shay Garrison. Moore and Garrison told firefighters that they were asleep in a second floor bedroom when they were awakened by the sound of breaking glass. Realizing that the hallway was filled with smoke, the pair escaped out a window without injury as the first fire crews arrived on scene.

The fire did extensive damage to the home, with the majority of damage being to the second level and attached deck. In addition, the fire spread to and destroyed a 1978 Mercury RS sedan that was parked near the house. A dollar estimate of damage has not been prepared at this hour.

An investigator at the scene early this morning conducted interviews with the home’s owner and occupants, but did not anticipate closely examining the damaged building until daylight. Cause of the fire remains under investigation.