Helicopter video from WJZ-TV
Slideshow from WMAR-TV
You can listen to the fireground operations live by clicking here
Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department website
For the fourth time in as many days we are telling you about a firehouse that has been greatly damaged or destroyed due to fire, collapse or both in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. This time it is the Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department in Carroll County, Maryland.
News reports indicate the roof over the social hall collapsed and then sparked a gas fed fire. This happened around 8:45 AM.
By 10:00 AM the fire had gone to a third-alarm plus additional equipment.
Below is the early fireground audio from FireSceneAudio.com.
Yesterday, two other firehouses were destroyed. Baltimore County Fire Department Station 6 in Dundalk caught fire around 2:45 AM. That fire went through the roof. The brand new Engine 6 was among the fire and EMS rigs lost in the blaze. Click here for video of the damage and here for our earlier coverage.
Later in the day, heavy snow brought in the roof of the Townsend Fire Company in New Castle County, Delaware. Seeing that the roof was compromised, crews were able to get the apparatus out of the building before the roof came down. Click here if you haven’t seen the video of the roof collapse.
Early Monday morning heavy snow collapsed the flat roof at Fairfax County’s Station 410 in Bailey’s Crossroads. Eighteen firefighters inside escaped without injury. That firehouse is destroyed and a ladder truck, engine, EMS units and a boat were under the rubble. Here is our coverage of that incident.
There is also a sagging roof at Station 408 in Annandale three miles away. For now, at both stations the apparatus is outside in the elements. In Annandale, crews are sleeping in tents inside the bingo hall. 9NEWS NOW’s Greg Guise spent some time during the blizzard yesterday with the crew at Station 408. That story is below.
Concerns about the roof at Alexandria’s Station 206 three miles east of Bailey’s Crossroads resulted in the evacuation of that station Monday night. Snow was removed from the flat roof and a structural engineer gave the okay to return to the firehouse on Tuesday.
Also on STATter911 …
- Helmet-cam video: Hartly, Delaware house fire. – January 6, 2011
- UPDATED: Firefighter killed in Abbotsford, Wisconsin fire. Snow covered theater roof collapsed & took life of Colby FD member. Four others injured. – March 4, 2012
- Quick Takes: October 31, 2011. – October 31, 2011
- Must see video: Motel roof collapses on top of San Antonio, Texas firefighters. – April 20, 2012
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now a 3rd alarm, and a structure task force
Thanks Dave for being on top of this! Great reporting !
I’m listening to the Carroll County radio … I hope no one is injured. The communications are difficult to understand … There’s like a twang or something ..
Is it just the fire stations or are other similar sized commercial building suffering roof collapses in the area due to the snow? Is this a deficiency in the building code, a peculiarity of construction of these fire stations, or just bad luck?
Lesson to the fire service:Building construction IS important to the fire service and firefighters-everyone of us. Fight a fire in a truss roof building, now add snow on the roof, even more dangerous. Anybody see how these multi-bay stations are not as sturdy as we’d like. WHen designing your building why not have more supports in the bay area? You’re not a wlmart nor are you a basketball court. Who’s the engineer at these buildings? sue’em. This amount of snow is not beyond the scope of posibilities for this area.I hope all get back in business soon and I hope all are OK. You shouldn’t have to worry about your fire station in an emergency. It should be built stronger than your average retail mega-store.
This can also be done with a TFT blitzfire or another deck gun using 2 and a half or 3 inch for defensive or unmanned monitors with relative ease.