Smith was in the cafeteria, eating a lunch of chicken fingers and green beans, when she heard the building's fire alarm.

"At first we thought it was a false alarm," she said. "But then somebody said it was real and I thought, 'Annie!' "

While stroking the canine curled safely in her lap, Smith, a small-framed woman with sparkling eyes, told the story she'd been telling friends for the past hour: how she saved her precious pup.

"She was on the seventh floor. I had to go up and get her!" she said.

The fire began at 12:20 p.m. on the fourth floor of the nine-floor public housing building on South Duke Street near the Durham Freeway. It damaged only apartments on that floor, said Capt. Willie Hall, acting chief for Battalion One.

Overall, injuries resulting from the blaze were few and relatively minor. Hall said three people were taken to the hospital. Two were treated for respiratory issues, while a third was treated for chest pains Hall said could have resulted from the fire. The cafeteria was used as a makeshift triage area for residents in the frailest health.

The seventh, eighth and ninth floors were not evacuated because dense smoke that fogged the hallways and stairwells made evacuation riskier than staying inside for many of the Towers' sickest residents, Hall said.

Smith said she "proceeded quickly" -- against the advice of firemen trying to evacuate between 70 and 100 people from the first six floors as other firefighters fought the contained blaze -- and sneaked into the only working elevator bound for the seventh floor.

"They told me not to go up there, but I didn't care. I went to get my dog Annie," she said, curling her small hands into fists as she spoke.

The elevator stopped on the fourth floor, she said, with the doors opening to reveal a black curtain of smoke that terrified her.

When she got to the seventh floor, she quickly grabbed Annie, who by that time "was shaking all over," Smith said. Residents a lot less able than Smith were the reason for the dramatic response to the blaze, Hall said.

Six fire engines, three ladder tucks and two squad units responded, in addition to county emergency officials, EMS workers and police officers from the city's public housing unit.

Though the fire was relatively small and out in about 15 minutes, Hall said the amount of "life hazard" that existed among the Towers' approximately 170 residents was the reason so many agencies rushed to the scene. Many residents were able to walk outside, but several were taken down to the building's cafeteria area, he added.

The fire began in the apartment of Judy Ancrum, who was downstairs hoping to get her yearly flu shot. She had been downstairs for about 40 minutes when she learned of the blaze. She also said she didn't know how the fire began.

Hall acknowledged Smith's "rescue" of Annie by emphasizing the dangers of reentering a burning structure.

"We always caution people to get out and stay out," Hall said.