Heavy Fire Throughout Chaneyville House

Thursday March 21, 2013 at 1310 hours, Prince George's Chief 29B (Santos) notified Communications of a house on fire at 2165 Chaneyville Road. The assignment was dispatched bringing units from the Dunkirk VFD, Huntingtown VFD, North Beach VFD, Prince Frederick VFD & Deale VFD. A 5-man crew aboard Engine 62 was already in Charles County for the funeral of Chief Gus Bowling. An additional 19 members responded from the Huntingtown VFD including the Fire Chief (Morris), Deputy Fire Chief, 6B (Riffe), Engine 61 (Lt Montgomery), Squad 6 (Hildwine), Tanker 6 (Morgal), Brush 6 (Cox, C) & Utility 6 (Cox, D).

Dunkirk VFD Engine 51 arrived on location of a 2-story balloon-frame residence with heavy smoke showing from all 4 sides. The crews from Engine 51, Engine 61, Squad 5 & Squad 6 worked aggressively inside for 5-7 minutes but due to weakened & sagging floors and a rapidly extending fire throughout the walls, crews had to abandon the building. In addition, strong gusting winds didn't help the situation for the large balloon-frame house that sat in the middle of a wide-open field. Several handlines on all 4 sides as well as Tower 1's ladder pipe eventually brought the fire under control. Several Tankers were special called to the incident from Calvert, Anne Arundel, Prince George's & St Mary's Counties to assist with Water Supply. After operating for 5 hours on the incident, members from the Huntingtown VFD returned to service.