Hillcrest Heights Duplex Fire with Fatality

Firefighters responded to 911 reports of a house fire this morning with a report of someone being trapped inside. Just before 5:30 AM, Saturday, January 16, 2010, firefighters and paramedics from the Silver Hill Fire/EMS Station and surrounding communities responded to 3617 Dunlap Street, Hillcrest Heights, a 2-story duplex, and encountered a working fire on the top floor. Public Safety Communications Dispatchers relayed information to responding firefighters about the 911 reports of a person being trapped. Firefighters arrived quickly and initiated an aggressive interior attack on the fire and searched for the victim. A bedroom fire and an unconscious person were quickly located on the second floor. An adult female found to be non-breathing and without a pulse was removed to the exterior where paramedics started advanced life support measures and transported to an area hospital. The fire had a small amount of extension from the second floor bedroom into the attic before being extinguished. Fire damage was contained to the one home with no extension to the attached exposure. There were 32 firefighter/medics on the scene that took about 10 minutes to extinguish the fire.

Two additional residents were able to escape from the house prior to the arrival of firefighters. A female, approximately 70 years-of-age, and an adult male, approximately 50 years-of- age, sustained minor smoke and burn injuries. The adult male also sustained lacerations to his arms when he attempted to make a rescue prior to the firefighter’s arrival. They were treated on the scene and transported to an area hospital in fair and stable condition.

The 30ish year-old-female victim removed by firefighters was small and frail in stature and at first was thought to be a young teenager. She was transported to Children’s Hospital with CPR being administered by paramedics. Despite the valiant efforts by paramedics and emergency room staff to save her, she succumbed to injuries a short time after arrival at the hospital. Identity of the deceased will be withheld pending notification of family.

Fire Investigators from the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department’s Office of the Fire Marshal are investigating the cause and origin of the fire. They will be assisted, as a matter of standard operating procedure, by the County Police Department until a cause of the fire has been determined. The cause remains under investigation and damage estimates are not yet available.

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