Maryland firefighters rescue triplets from house fire. Six people hurt, including two firefighters. Listen to the 911 call.
More fire and EMS news from STATter911.com
Watch Phyllis Armstrong’s 5:00 PM report
Listen to 911 call from father of the triplets
Read press release from Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service
Latest update, including interview with firefighter
(Updated 2:00 AM, Thursday)
Montgomery County, Maryland firefighters rescued a set of triplets from the second floor of a burning home in Bethesda Wednesday afternoon. All three of the two-and-a-half year old boys are listed in critical condition at Children’s National Medical Center. Their father suffered smoke inhalation and burns and is in serious condition at the MedStar Burn Unit of the Washington Hospital Center. Two firefighters have steam burns to their ears and hands.
The fire was reported at 1:25 PM in the 4800 block of Jamestown Road. Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service spokesman Pete Piringer says the children were home with their father and a nanny. The nanny, walking outside the house, saw smoke and fire on the back patio and a side porch.
According to Piringer the fire started because of an electrical problem near a hot tub on Side C and extended up through a wooden trellis and into the house. The fire also extended to the porch near the corner of Side B and C. The father, Michael Petrucelli, a former Homeland Security official, first tried to fight the fire with a garden hose.
The nanny and then Petrucelli tried to get to the children, but heat and smoke drove them back.
The father met arriving firefighters and told them of the trapped children in a second floor bedroom. That bedroom is in Quadrant D of the home.
The first firefighters entered the home without a hose line and made their way toward the second floor bedroom. They experienced high heat conditions and were forced to retreat. On the second attempt with a line, the crew from Engine 711 was able to hit the fire in Quadrant B while two members of Rescue Squad 741 got the first two children.
The two firefighters from Rescue Squad 741 suffered the steam burns.
One of the children was carried out through the interior of the home. Piringer isn’t sure if the other two came through the interior or down a ladder.
