Raw video of the fire from photographer Tom Yeatman.
Photo by PGFD's Mark Brady. Click image for slideshow from the fire.
Click here for slideshow from the fire put together by WUSA9.com’s Emily Cyr
Eight firefighters were hurt during a fire late Sunday night in a large single-family home in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The home that burned is at 7016 Partridge Place in University Park. The injuries are all believed to be minor.
Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department Chief Spokesman Mark Brady says the initial crews found fire on the first and second floors. According to a press release from Brady, ”Using the water the engines carry on-board, firefighters were able to mount a brief aggressive interior attack on the well advanced fire until forced to withdraw to wait for an adequate water supply to be established. Interior operations commenced again after the primary and secondary water supplies were in place.”
According to Brady the evacuation tones were later sounded a second time for accountability and to “organize a coordinated deployment”.
Photo courtesy of Bill McNeel.
The fire could be seen from high-rise buildings at the University of Maryland about a mile away prompting calls to 911. Brady reports it took about an hour to knock down the fire.
Smoke alarms alerted the family of five to the fire and they escaped without harm.
Brady indicates the eight firefighters taken to area hospital suffered “burns, sprains, lacerations and exhaustion”.
Damage is estimated at $700,000.
Also on STATter911 …
- UPDATED: One Girl Dies, One Gravely Injured After Prince George’s County house fire. Two other children, parents & firefighter hurt in early morning Brentwood blaze. – January 19, 2011
- Fireground audio & morning update: Seven firefighters hurt in Prince George’s County, MD when high winds send ‘blowtorch’ through home. Two from Bladensburg admitted to burn center. Both critical. – February 24, 2012
- Fatal house fire in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Chief says response plan worked after 54-inch water main break on Beltway. – January 24, 2011
- Raw video: House fire in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Home destroyed on Normal School Road in Bowie. – December 9, 2010
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Dave, is this PG or PA? Looks like PA from the large group of firefighters standing around in the front yard while the house burns. Glad nobody was seriously injured here.
Nothing new there…PG or PA? Look at the web site for PG Companies and PA is everywhere….Look at some of the PA websites and PG is everywhere! They don’t do anything up there in terms of seeing regular fire so they come here…and it shows!!
OK so he just bailed out of a well involved house! Its obvious that he is VERY hot and yet you still help him take his gear off with your bare hands. Why do we continue to look like idiots?
Who did the risk assessment on this one? The house is obviously a total loss and would be torn down anyway. Once you confirm there are no occupants why would you continue with an agressive interior attack? There is no glory in getting hurt on an empty building! Hope everyone recovers quickly!
Looks like your typical 1 1/2 story house with a finished attic- fire is in the knee walls and voids for the dormers- in any other department this type of fire would be their “bread and butter”operation-In PG, we still manage to make them harder than it needs to be. Hopefully the injured parties weren’t hurt too seriously and will recover from the injuries quickly.
Tom and Anonymous are you both saying that Pennsylvania Firefighters do nothing but stand around when a building burns? I like to know where do you get your information?
I agree with one other post, the house is a total loss and still we send a few hero’s up on the roof to vent! And they are right,when are we going to put water on the FIRE !!!that is the stuff that make us look stupid and gets us killed.
It’s sad that I have to be the first to say…”GLAD THE BROTHERS ARE ALL OK!”
Monday morning quarterbacks…
Is it not OK to say that some of us still go inside simply because its fun. I dont know about you safety freaks but I can have fun yet still be calculated and safe in an aggresive interior attack…. grow a pair and get the job done.
It’s good to see the guys from 12 and 11 waiting in the front yard for the real firemen to show up an handle the fire.
I agree.. what was there to save. But more important where is the safety chief ??? Was not a good show of they way it should be done.
To all you Monday morning quarterbacks,
I was there on the initial assignment, so I will agree with a few of your comments and set the record straight on others. I agree that there were plenty of people standing in the front yard posing as firefighters while a few crews went to work. I also saw alot of freelancing with no significant purpose…like the two guys sitting on the peak of the roof with a sledge hammer for a fire that had already vented itself. Why? There was a lack of leadership and supervision of some crews, which probably led to some of the eight injuries. Where were the Company Officers? Maybe they should brush up on effective leadership skills taught in Fire Officer I.
I don’t agree with the house being a total loss WITH a proper coordinated attack and crews performing the duties they are assigned in a timely manner. Firefighting is a dangerous business… if you want to surround and drown every fire then become a landscaper. And when did a $700,000 capecod that is 4500 s.f. become a typical 1 1/2 story house? Not in P.G. County. I hope the injured FF’s recover quickly and learn something from their experience.
Bunch of PA goobers standing around. Now they can all go back to Pennsyltucky and brag about being on the big one in Pee Gee.
For the ones that like to use the words risk assessment, safety, no occupants, vacant, ICS, & so on. The words property & environment still follow behind “LIFE” for what FIREFIGHTERS are responsible for protecting. Interior attack = water on red stuff problem goes away. Nothing is vacant until searched, & radios, college degrees, & vest don’t put fires out
To the Brothers that got hurt, I wish you a speedy return.
Safety Chief??? Ask Eugine…he cut that position, said let the volunteer safety officers handle it. Well that’s working
ooh hello, I agree with you about 11 and 12 but please take your kudos away from Co. 1. Other than yelling on the radio and trying to cut a vent hole on a 1 1/2 story house it didn’t sound like they did much.
You saftey freaks need to get a grip and spend more that 1 year as tailboard before moving up to the office. Yes you can do a good aggressive attack and be safe at the same time. GJ guys in taking PRIDE in you work.
I love how all of you text-book fireman can sit back here and tell me exactly what was happening from a computer screen. Have you ever been in a working fire that kept just slipping through your fingertips or are all of your “working fires” trashcans in the basement? I will tell you right now there was very little fire in the knee-walls and voids. The fire was all in the attic which had multiple large air ducts running across the ceiling hindering truck companies from opening up for a full and complete knock on the fire. And apparently personal belongings and family items passed down from generations mean nothing to you all? There is still reason to enter and initiate an aggressive fire attack on an evacuated building. Would you want 25-30+ young, energetic firemen standing around outside your house while all of your belongings and family photos from multiple generations burn to the ground? I didn’t think so. Go critique someone else.. there’s a reason you only seen the same companies outside. The other companies were inside doing a job that the ones outside could not handle.
It would appear that your calculations were wrong. You managed to injurer 8 firefighters and had one doing the “Oh crap I’m burning up dance” in the front yard. May be someone there should of used that pair they grew and told you if you what to have FUN, go play at home before you kill someone. Remember “Stop, Drop, and Roll when you catch on fire.
I like how the guy who says “grow a pair” hides behind Anonymous…
Safety and PG county do not go hand in hand.. ps.. bring a saw to the roof if you go. it cuts easier..
I was in a weekend class where we learned about looking at photos and videos, and drawing conclusions from them. What I saw on this video does lead to some negative conclusions, however, I was not there, I did not hear radio traffic as far as orders, I did not see a 360 view of the building, and I do not know these companies’ standard operating procedures. We must constantly monitor risk vs gain, and for all I know, someone there was doing that. It’s just not right to condemn crews when we don’t know exactly what was going on. To the injured brothers, God speed in your recovery.
Wow! if 12 was first arriving why do their members have aid bags instead of airpacks?
inner beltway fireman”, I’m not a scientist but considering 12 had a ambo on the working fire dispatch is probably a good explanation.
Is it possible to list the ages of the Fire Fighters that were on Engine 812. With the water problems and probably Engine operator error will explain how this all started. This was probably the start of the tragic chain of events that got these guys injured.
To the comments about people standing around on Side Alpha – The crews from 12, 1, and 11 made the initial fire attack on Division 1 until the evac tones were sounded due to the water supply issues. Those crews then exited the building as instructed to do so. As the water supply issues was rectified crews were sent back into the interior. Fresh crews from the Task Force Alarm were the first sent back into the house while other crews swapped out SCBA cylinders. 12, 1, and 11 were instructed to stand by on Side A for further orders, and as hard as it may be for some to comprehend companies followed the orders of the Incident Commander. And yes Ambulance 812 was the Working Fire Dispatch BLS unit.
its sad that this is what the fire department has come too. everyone is afraid to get the job done. people depend on you to handle there emergency but nobody cares. loss of tradition. this is a dangerous job if you dont like it get out and find a safer one.
First of all, Water Supply issues were because 1′s driver did not hook up the humat value that 12 had laid out. 13′s driver also did not properly boost the pressure to 11′s line after connecting the humat valve. This is a training issues as companies like 12 and 11 use a humat and LDH while the other companies use 3 inch as their supply lines and there is no cross training between these companies. AS for 11 and 12 on the front lawn 12 made the inital attack until the 1st evac tones, and 11 made the attack until the 2nd evac tones.
The fire simply got ahead of both companies because of the lack of timely water and stopping of the attack to regroup. For the record 9 put out the entire 2nd floor. If people would stop making assumptions and look at the video and pictures you can see the progression of the fire and who was in and out. Hopefully the county volunteers rectify this training issue between companies before we start to bury our brothers.
You don’t “mount a brief aggressive interior attack on the well advanced fire”…”Using the water the engines carry on-board”.
“forced to withdraw to wait for an adequate water supply to be established.” …WTF?
Another parking lot, courtesy of our friendly North Side VFDs
Those are some piss poor excuses for why 12, 11, and 1 were like garden gnomes in the front yard while the crews from 9, 34, 55, and 14 were sent back in to put out the fire that you couldn’t handle. The first 3 companies on the scene set the tone for this incident… from water supply issues, a.k.a. “incompetency”, to screaming on the radio… it was doomed from the start.
You get what you pay for
Wow another great one by the PG volunteers please dont come to my house if it ever catches on fire just give me your line and ill just put it out. couldnt get water huh sounds like inexperience on an engine to me good one guys I just love volunteers they just make us payed guys look so good.
You do a pretty good job making yourself look good there bud. Guess an elementary school education is not required to become a “payed” guy huh?
To “Anonymous”: You say don’t come to your house if it ever catches on fire, have a set and tell us your address so we know where not to go. You payed guys need someone else to make you look good because you can’t do it on your own. And for the person who wrote “You get what you pay for”, I guess that’s why they are cutting your hours/pay in PG, you are not worth the money their paying you. Every fire has mistakes made, the thing that we need to do is learn from them instead of “name calling games”. Grow up, we are all firefighters, volunteer and paid. Just because you receive a pay check doesn’t make you a firefighter.
ugh!
Dave, maybe you should ask why suspended members from Riverdale were on the scene? (1:00 to 1:15 mark)
Whose that big guy who can just clip his SCBA waist straps, wandering around the front yard? Guess that’s why that engine company couldn’t make a push..
Putting guys above the fire with NO control of the main body is rediculous especially in a frame. The guy comin out from the second floor looks like an “almost” LODD.
We come first brothers. And yes as someone said Risk Analysis. We should always operate Aggressively, yes. But as officers your men always come first. Get some control before sending them above.
Be safe!!!!!!!
I love how everyone loves to bash everyone. As far as cross training with water supply for LDH, its simple open valve let it go. There is minimal friction loss with 4″ and almost none with 5″. You don’t need to increase the preasure unless the line is longer than 1000′ or up hill. There is your cross training lesson. When you are told to stand-by that is what you do I have talked to one of those crews and I know they were taught above all else to follow orders they wanted to go back in, for those that talk about people standing around glad to know who the freelancers are.
yea look at Chris with that HV 1 FD on yea Hyattsville