Four people were injured after the Burkittsville post office on East Main Street and an adjoining house sustained extensive damage from a fire on Sunday.
All residents from the home, which was divided into apartments, were displaced.
Two people were taken to the hospital, including a firefighter who fell from a ladder, according to Deputy Chief of the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Steve Leatherman.
Mayor Debby Burgoyne said the response from the town has been incredible.
“Burkittsville is a unique community in that we care for one another incredibly, and this is heartbreaking,” she said.
Emergency vehicles from three counties responded to the fire, which began at about 7 a.m. Sunday.
It took about 90 minutes to declare the fire under control.
First responders had to rely on ponds and other sources of water because the rural town does not have fire hydrants.
“That created a bit of a problem in the very beginning,” Leatherman said. “There was a massive amount of fire.”
Many buildings in Burkittsville are pre-Civil War. Leatherman said the heavy timber made things more difficult.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation and the extent of the damage is not yet known.
According to CBS Sacramento, the U.S. Postal Service said if a property is no longer standing, mail is sent to the closest post office and placed on hold.
Burgoyne said donations started pouring in the minute people knew they were needed.
They included toiletries, clothing, animals supplies and phone chargers.
Dan Schnackenberg lived in one of the apartments located behind the post office and said the mayor herself has been “really helpful.”
“She’s been organizing all the donations,” he said. “She’s been here all day with us since the very beginning.”
Schnackenberg said it’s been nice to see some many people bring in donations.
He also said the firefighters were able to retrieve some items from the fire early on that Schnackenberg thinks will be okay.
“They got all of our animals out and they were just really helpful all around,” he said.
Burgoyne said members of the Alpha Zeta Mu chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity at Shepherd University also made donations.
“It doesn’t matter whether you rent or you own, we all live here,” she said. “We all look out for each other.”
Burgoyne also said every mayor in Frederick County has reached out.
“We are very grateful.”
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