Fire Levels Home, Knocks Out Transmitters in Washington County, Maryland

CLEAR SPRING, Md. (AP) -- Hagerstown television station WHAG was knocked off the air for nearly seven hours Wednesday by a house fire that damaged a power line supplying electricity to the station's transmitter atop Fairview Mountain.

The fire destroyed the two-story house near Clear Spring and partially melted the power line, blacking out 76 Allegheny Power customers from shortly after 3 a.m. to shortly after 10 a.m., according to firefighters and the utility company.

The outage also disabled a Washington County Emergency Services transmitter but there was no loss of communications because the agency relied on its four other transmitters for 45 minutes until an emergency generator was activated, said Keith Bowen, day shift supervisor.

Nobody was home when the fire broke out at the house along U.S. 40 near the Indian Springs Wildlife Management area about 12 miles west of Hagerstown, said Clear Spring Volunteer Fire Department Chief Charles Mundey.

The fire was reported by a passing motorist, he said. The house was in flames when firefighters arrived, he said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Mundey said.