In less than 24 hours, Montgomery County firefighters battled two separate fires Sunday at townhouses in Wheaton that left the residents of the homes displaced, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) Public Information Officer Pete Piringer.
A space heater is believed to be the cause of one of the blazes, he wrote on social media.
After the fires, Piringer said smoke alarms “saved” the lives of the residents who were able to escape because they were alerted about the fire threat.
“SMOKE ALARMS SAVE LIVES,” Piringer wrote on social media.
According to Piringer, the first fire broke out around 2:45 a.m. Sunday morning at a townhouse in the 10700 block of Lester Street. The occupants were awakened by a smoke alarm and were able to escape from the home before the blaze spread throughout the two-story residence.
When firefighters arrived, they encountered “significant fire conditions,” Piringer said on social media, with a blaze that had spread to all levels of the home.
As firefighters battled the blaze, they faced “heavy fire” that caused a partial floor collapse, Piringer said. About 60 firefighters responded to the scene.
According to Piringer, MCFRS officials have yet to determine what caused the fire but believe it started in the basement.
By about 3:30 a.m. the bulk of the fire, which was mostly confined to the townhouse and did not spread to adjacent townhouses, had been “knocked down,” Piringer said. Two adult occupants were displaced but were not injured.
The fire also caused damage to the electric meter, Piringer told Bethesda Today on Monday morning, leaving the entire row of about 10 townhomes without electricity and heat for up to six hours.
Piringer said Monday that many of the residents in the surrounding townhouses elected to shelter in place as Pepco worked to restore power. He noted the county provided Ride On buses where residents could shelter due to the cold temperatures early Sunday morning.
Second townhouse fire
Later Sunday, at around 9 p.m., another fire erupted at a two-story townhouse in the 10800 block of Bucknell Drive off Wyndham Lane, according to Piringer. When firefighters arrived, they could see the blaze on the second floor of the townhouse.
Within 10 minutes of crews’ arrival, the bulk of the fire had been extinguished, Piringer said.
Three adults and one dog, along with residents of neighboring townhouses, were evacuated safely, and no injuries were reported, according to Piringer. The occupants of the home were displaced.
On Monday, Piringer said families in the surrounding townhomes were able to return to their residences after the blaze. According to Piringer, the fire was primarily confined to the townhouse where the fire started in a second-floor bedroom.
The cause of the blaze is believed to be a space heater that “came into contact with the bed” and caused other items in the room to catch fire, Piringer said.
About 60 firefighters were also at the scene.
On social media Piringer shared safety tips regarding space heaters, which are primarily used during cold winter months. He wrote that space heater fires account for four out of five home-heating fire deaths.