Indiana senator, family escape burning house

Bayh, his wife and 6-year-old twin sons were in their home when the fire started, a fire department spokeswoman said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, and his family are shaken but in good health after escaping from their house which caught fire Wednesday night, the senator's spokesman said.

Fire officials were able to put the blaze out about 45 minutes after arriving shortly before 11 p.m., according to Lisa Bass, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Fire Department. Bayh and his wife looked on as firefighters worked to control the blaze.

Bayh, his wife and 6-year-old twin sons were in their home in northwest Washington when the fire started, Bass said. The senator saw sparks coming from an electrical outlet and smelled smoke before the fire alarm went off, spokesman Mark Kornblau said. He and his wife got the children out of the house and called the fire department around 10 p.m.

A preliminary report into the cause of the fire indicates it started in the attic by an electrical spark, after a firefighter reported seeing smoke coming out of a fuse box in the attic of the large house, Bass said.

The house in D.C.'s Spring Valley neighborhood sustained significant water damage to the lower floors, in addition to smoke and fire damage, Kornblau said.

Bayh, 46, elected in 1998, is a first-term Democrat and the former governor of Indiana. He is the son of Birch Bayh, a long-time senator from Indiana.

Bayh and his family have lived in the house for three years.