A fire at an apartment building in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Northwest D.C. sent a cloud of black smoke over the area and forced residents to evacuate their homes.

Three firefighters were hurt as they battled the blaze on the 1300 block of 12th Street NW -- two with heat-related ailments and one with a twisted ankle.

A dog was "badly burned" and rushed to a veterinarian. No one else was hurt, a DC Fire & EMS Department representative said.

The two-alarm fire broke out about 4 p.m. Tuesday. The blaze started on the roof, D.C. Fire Chief Gregory Dean said. A propane tank exploded on the roof, but Dean said the tank is not believed to have sparked the fire.

Dramatic video from DC Fire & EMS shows flames shooting from the roof of the red brick building. The smoke could be seen for miles.

A 10-year-old girl named Vanessa described the scene to News4's Shomari Stone. She lives nearby.

"I saw pitch black outside of the window and I screamed 'Fire! Fire!' to my mom. And she didn't believe me, so she checked out the window. And she believed me, so she ran," the child said.

Neighbor Dionne Covington said she saw the injured dog.

"We saw a police officer chasing a dog, and I just thought he got loose, but he said he ran from the fire," she said. "He was burned. His feet were burned and bleeding. A little black-and-white dog."

The blaze spread from the roof to the apartments below and an adjacent home.

Twelve people were displaced from the apartment building, the fire department said. Information on how many people were displaced from the adjacent home was not available immediately.

The smell of smoke was heavy in the area, News4's Chuck Bell said.

City officials asked drivers to avoid the area. Nearby roads were closed.