KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A small fire at a senior living facility in Kearney sent three people to the hospital.

The Kearney Volunteer Fire Department was called to St. Luke’s Countryside Villa just after 3 p.m. Friday.

Property manager Jonna Wilson says minutes earlier, she smelled smoke, wen to investigate and encountered a hallway full of smoke. She pulled the fire alarm and evacuated the building’s 20 residents.

Wilson says the fire was caused by a tenant cooking hot peppers on a stove. The tenant had put out the fire by tossing the burning peppers in a toilet before firefighters arrived.

The residents were taken to a Kearney hospital — two for chest pains and one for smoke inhalation.