On Monday, Nov. 12 at 8:30 a.m., Wicomico County Central initially dispatched the Salisbury Fire Department for the automatic fire alarm activation on Dogwood Drive.
Shortly before arrival, Central upgraded the alarm to a house fire. The crew from Station 16 was immediately greeted with a large amount of fire showing from the rear of a 2-1/2-story single family dwelling.
The alarm upgrade brought additional resources from Salisbury as well as from Station 3 (Fruitland) and Station 5 (Hebron). An aggressive interior attack was made, but due to the interior layout hampering access to the upper level, the initial crews became bogged down.
Fifteen minutes into the operations, Assistant Chief J. Gladwell, the incident commander, called for the evacuation tones and withdrew personnel from the structure. While crews continued to open up from the outside, master stream operations were begun.
Truck 16's ladder pipe, Engine 16's blitz gun, and various handlines proceeded to darken down the fire. After an hour and a half, the fire was considered under control and crews began overhauling and assisting investigators.
While no occupants were injured, one firefighter received a minor hand injury. Firefighters from Station 6 (Parsonsburg) and Station 74 (Delmar) transferred to Salisbury during the alarm. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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