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Photos by Tom Carter; Bottom Photo by Mike Walker. More Photos Coming |
Firefighters From Three Counties Battle Beltsville Four-Alarm Equivalent April 26, 1998 More than 100 firefighters from three counties battled a four-alarm equivalent blaze on the former campus of the Christian Brothers early Sunday morning in Prince George's County, Maryland. At 0644 hours, fire/rescue communications received a call for a reported building fire on Ammendale Road. Within minutes, units from the Beltsville station arrived on the scene reporting a working fire inside a 3-story, 300x50' structure, the now-vacant main building of the campus, about 15 miles north of Washington, D.C. Early into the incident, engines from Laurel and the Water Supply Unit from Landover Hills were instructed to lay large diameter hose from U.S. Route 1. As the fire gained headway, firefighters evacuated the building and a full second-alarm was requested at 0710. Minutes later, with fire rapidly extending throughout the building, command requested four additional engines, a tower ladder and a brush unit. At the peak of the incident, more than 100 fire/rescue personnel from Prince George's, Montgomery and Anne Arundel were on the scene manning more than 30 units. The fire took about two hours to bring completely under control and crews remained on the scene for many hours after hitting hotspots and mopping up. A fuel truck had to be called to the scene as several of the units were running low on fuel hours into the incident. U.S. Route 1, a major thoroughfare between Baltimore and Washington, was shut down in both directions for several hours. Volunteer Chief 31, Al Schwartz, had command of the incident initially and was later relieved by Major Kevin Andrecs, Northern Division Commander. Prince George's County Fire/EMS Chief Ron Siarnicki as well as Volunteer Deputy Chief Donald Moltrup and Emergency Operations Deputy Bill McGowen were also on the scene. Fire investigators from Prince George's County as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were on the scene working to determine the cause of the blaze. Photos from this incident should be online early this week on the Hyattsville Volunteers web site at http://www.hvfd.com.
Units Responding (May Not Be Complete List):
Also Responding: Towers 7 & 31; Truck 12; Squad 14, Ambulance from 49, A119, A359; Car 61 and 610 (PIO); Car 603 and the Fire Chief; Car 105 (Safety); Ladies Auxiliary; Emergency Operations Deputy; Volunteer Deputy; Investigations; Division Chief 1; Numerous Career & Volunteer Command Officers |
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