| Tuesday January 30, 2007 at 0940 hours, units from Company 7 (St Leonard), 3 (Solomons), 2 (Prince Frederick), and 6 (Huntingtown) were alerted to 5755 Oakcrest Drive for the house fire. Chief 6 (Riffe), Chief 6B (Montgomery), and Tanker 6 (Willis) responded intially on the Box assignment. Units arrived on location with heavy fire showing from the 1st and 2nd floor. Due to this, Communications quickly struck the Working Fire Dispatch bringing Huntingtown Engine 62 (S/O Collins). With reports from bystanders of possibly two children still inside, two members from Huntingtown (aboard Squad 7) quickly advanced two attack lines into the front door and were encountered with heavy fire conditions along with a portion of the 1st floor already collapsed into the basement. Within minutes upon arrival, Command (Chief 7, Parks) realized that heavy fire was also in the basement and that the house showed signs of a pending collapse. All units were ordered out of the house for defensive operations. Seconds later, the entire house flashed over and collapsed into the basement barely missing firefighters. Crews stretched additional handlines and extinguished the remaining fire. The reported missing children were also accounted for and were not in the house at the time of the fire.
On a side-note, a dog was found trapped on a 2nd floor deck after the collapse. Crews were able to rescue the dog from a ladder and hand over to awaiting EMS. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Huntingtown units operated on the scene until 1325 hours.
Unfortunately, no pictures have been located of what the house looked like upon arrival (before collapse). |
