Mobile Home Fire Displaces Family

Fire fighters say the home is total loss.

 

Mount Airy, Md (KM) A family of four was displaced by a mobile home fire Monday afternoon in Mount Airy.

Doug Alexander, spokesman for the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company, says at 2:56 PM, fire fighters were dispatched to a mobile home fire in 7800 block of West Hill Road in the Pheasant Ridge Mobile Home Park. “First arriving units found a mobile home well involved in fire. Extensive damage was done by the fire. They were able to make a fairly quick knockdown on it due to the fact that they had sufficient personnel and equipment coming on the first alarm,” he says

He says the fire was brought under control within 30-minutes after fire fighters arrived on the scene. There were no injuries.

“Unfortunately, the mobile home was a total loss. A family of four was displaced. Fortunately, they all got out safely with no injuries. But, unfortunately, they got out with nothing. They had their clothes on their back, and that was about it,” says Alexander. He says the Red Cross was called to the scene to assist the family.

He says a vehicle parked in the driveway was also damaged by the fire. “It was an SUV, a fairly new SUV parked in the driveway. The heat from the fire melted the back portion of the SUV, the rear door and tail lights, and then pretty much destroyed the rear end of the vehicle. It too sustained extensive damage,” says Alexander.

The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office says damage to the mobile home is estimated at $35,000.  The cause remains under investigation, but officials says the fire originated on the front deck of the home.

35 personnel and 15 units responded from the Mount Airy, Lisbon, Damascus, New Market and Green Valley Fire Companies, according to Alexander. “Here in Mount Airy, we’re on the border of three other counties. We depend heavily on Frederick County, Montgomery County, Howard County to assist us. This particular fire was only maybe less than a quarter of a mile from the Howard County boundary with Carroll County,” he says.

 

By Kevin McManus