As the first firefighters reached the scene of the "undetermined fire" they saw a cluster of homes burning on one side of the street and set up engine operations. Within minutes, flames burst out in two houses on the other side of the street. Down the street more homes, unoccupied and in various stages of construction, became torches in the early morning hours.
It is now known that arson was the cause of the fires destroying 10 unoccupied houses, damaging 16 others, causing an estimated $10 million in losses. Authorities have recently arrested four men including one who was a volunteer firefighter. The arsonists tried to burn 10 other houses but failed. The one occupied home in the area was not a target of the arsonists.
The Charles County 9-1-1 Call Center received the first call at 04:54:35. Dispatch toned out pagers at 04:55:02. "Undetermined Fire."
The Charles County fire service consists entirely of 14 volunteer fire departments, some of these that respond EMS calls too. The Naval Surface Weapons Center in Indian Head has apparatus available to the county on special request. There are also four stations handling EMS only.
Four departments, Potomac Heights Station 7, 10th District Station 8 in Pisgah, Indian Head Station 9 and Bryans Road Station 11, all generally running mutual aid for each other, have an agreement that one, each week 24-7 would provide the Battalion Chief for all calls for these stations. That morning it was Stations 8
