Maryland Firefighters Survive Close Call at Blaze

April 12, 2011
Prince George's County firefighters survived a close call, after a roof collapsed while they were battling a blaze in Beltsville Monday morning.
BELTSVILLE, Md. -- Prince George's County firefighters survived a close call, after a roof collapsed while they were battling a blaze in Beltsville Monday morning.

It happened at the 4100 block of Ulster Road. Firefighters arrived to a burning two-story, single family home with an attached garage at around 10 a.m., officials said.

Heavy flames and smoke were coming out of the home when firefighters were heading in to fight the fire, officials said. That's when part of the roof fell into the burning home.

A precautionary second alarm was sounded as fire consumed the garage and had extended into the second floor and roof area.

As firefighters were searching for any people inside the home, they thought the roof might collapse and they evacuated the home. They continued to fight the fire from outside the home.

Once most of the fire was out, firefighters went back inside the house to complete searches and extinguish the remainder of the fire.

It required about 40 minutes to extinguish the bulk of the fire, say fire officials. In total, there were 60 firefighter/medics, command officers and support personnel that worked at the scene.

With the exception of a family dog, no one was home when firefighters arrived. Mark Brady, spokesperson for Prince George's County Fire and EMS, says a neighbor broke a window in a back door so the family dog, Spencer, could escape. The neighbor suffered minor cuts to his arm.

The dog, Spencer, was soon reunited with the homeowner and did not appear to have suffered any injury. Paramedics tended to the injured neighbor on the scene, and he did not go to the hospital.

No other injuries were reported.

The well-known Kevin Kennedy family of Beltsville will be displaced and are making their own arrangements for temporary housing.

The cause of the fire is under investigation and fire loss is still being estimated.

Republished with permission of WUSA-TV.

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