Video and pictures from 3rd-alarm in Beltsville, MD

A three-alarm fire Monday morning destroyed a 3-story, garden-apartment in Beltsville, MD. It also sent firefighters to the hospital after their face pieces became dislodged when debris fell onto one of the firefighters. They are reported to be in good condition. Below is the official account from Prince George’s County Fire/EMS spokesman Mark Brady (those are his pictures above):

At about 8:45 AM, Monday, December 17, 2007, Firefighters/Medics from the Beltsville area and surrounding communities, including Montgomery County, were dispatched to a reported fire in a building. Fire/EMS units arrived quickly at 11212 Cherry Hill Road, a 3-story in the front/4-story in the rear garden style condominium building, with heavy smoke coming from the building. Firefighters stretched hoselines and initiated an aggressive interior attack on the fire which appears to have started in a unit on the second floor. Northwesterly winds of up to 20 MPH winds helped to quickly advance the fire beyond the resources that were on the scene. The fire moved quickly from the second floor to upper floors and eventually burned through the roof. Firefighters were able to limit the amount of extension into an attached building at 11210 Cherry Hill Road. A second and third alarm were sounded dispatching nearly 140 firefighters/medics on-board 35 pieces of apparatus to the scene. Two firefighters sustained injuries when their face pieces and helmets were knocked off from their high pressure hose line. Both firefighters were transported to the Burn Unit at the Washington Hospital Center and are being treated for minor burns to their upper body and smoke inhalation; both are listed in “good” condition. It required about 1 ½ hours to knock down the bulk of the fire and a preliminary fire loss is estimated at $1.5 million. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Fire Investigators are aware that there was a power outage within the complex from the strong overnight winds, at this point, investigators at not saying if this played a role in this incident. There are a total of 34 condominium units in two buildings that will uninhabitable and approximately 75-100 residents will be displaced. The Fire/EMS Departments Citizens Service Unit as well as the Red Cross will be assisting this displaced with temporary shelter and relief.

I’ve edited about 9 minutes of helicopter video from Sky 9. It is a condensed version of about an hours worth of video beginning around 9:10 AM. Click the image above to see it.

Watch 9NEWS NOW’s Armando Tull’s report from the scene.

Beltsville VFD has pictures and more information.

Bill Carey provided the pictures below. He has a good account of the fire on his site Charge The Line!