April 1, 2010
UPDATED 5/30/10
Apartment Fire in Wheaton
For the third day in a row, Rescue Squad 741 Bravo caught a working fire. Today, the fire was in both bedrooms of a ground floor garden apartment on Elkins Street in Wheaton.
Rescue Squad 741 Bravo was dispatched on the initial box alarm, even though this location is far outside its first due area, because Wheaton’s rescue squad was committed to another call in Rockville. The Wheaton unit ultimately was dispatched on the Rapid Intervention Dispatch.
Kensington’s Engine 718 arrived on scene first and reported fire showing from the delta side of the building. Subsequently it reported two bedrooms fully involved in fire. There was an initial report of people trapped, but the Squad crew's primary and secondary search found no one. The residents were later found safely located in another apartment building.
After completing its search, the Squad crew spent substantial time pulling walls and ceiling in the fire apartment to find places where the fire might have extended behind the walls. It located a number of hot spots that were quickly extinguished by engine companies.
Units from Kensington and Silver Spring, responded on the initial alarm. Two subsequent task force alarms brought numerous additional units from throughout the eastern part of Montgomery County.
The Squad cleared the scene after about an hour.
