MEDIA CONTACT: Mark E. Brady, Chief Spokesperson, 240-508-7930
mebrady@co.pg.md.us @PGFDPIO
Prince George’s County Firefighters battled a fire in a
District Heights house that appears to have been intentionally set. On Sunday, July 26, just before 8 pm,
firefighters responded to 911 calls reporting a fire inside of a vacant 2-story
single family home at 6515 Walters Place.
Firefighters arrived to find fire showing from the second floor with
extension into the attic.
Despite being reported as a vacant structure firefighters
still completed a search of the interior.
The 40 firefighters and medics on the scene controlled the fire within
15 minutes of arrival. No injuries were
reported.
Fire Investigators from the County Office of the Fire
Marshal conducted a cause and origin investigation and determined the fire was incendiary
and started in a 2nd floor bedroom.
Fire loss is estimated at $10,000.
Investigators heard many reports from members of the
community that people were in and out of the house since it became vacant. Real Estate web sites list the property as “bank
owned” and most utilities had been shut off, including the water that supplies the
residential sprinkler system.
Residential sprinklers are designed to extinguish a fire in
its incipient stages and allow extra time for occupants to escape. It’s difficult to say what impact a working
sprinkler system would have had on this incident but odds are the fire would
have been suppressed and not grown in intensity. The house also was not equipped with smoke alarms,
as they all had been removed.
Fire Investigators are asking that anyone with information
about this fire and the person(s) responsible to contact them at 301-77-ARSON (301-772-7766) or Email at 77ARSON@co.pg.md.us. Callers may remain anonymous.
 |
| Conditions on arrival. (image by Paul Hawkins) |
 |
| (Image by Paul Hawkins) |
Comments
Post a Comment