(AP) GERMANTOWN, Md. Investigators charged a woman with arson and reckless endangerment Sunday after an early morning apartment fire forced about 75 people from their homes.

Roxanna Benavides, 25, was charged with setting the three-alarm blaze around 3:30 a.m. in her first floor apartment in the 28200 block of Halethorpe Lane in Germantown, said Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer. Flames spread up to the third floor of the garden-style Oak Mill Apartments. It eventually required more than 100 firefighters to bring the flames under control.

"Fire investigators believe it was domestic in nature," Piringer said. "She set some personal belongings on fire in a first floor bedroom."

According to Benavides' boyfriend, the fire started after she locked herself in a bedroom during an argument. When he finally broke down the door to the room, he discovered the bed was on fire and attempts to put the fire out with home extinguishers failed.

Three people suffered minor injuries, including two firefighters and a woman suffering from apparent smoke inhalation, Piringer said. They were all treated and released from a local hospital.

Damage was estimated at $2.5 million. The Red Cross was brought in to set up a temporary shelter for the displaced residents.

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