Gaithersburg Plane Crash and House Fire

On Monday, December 8 at approximately 10:43 AM, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue units were alerted for a house on fire due to a plane crash.  Incoming units arrived on the scene to find a plane that had crashed in the front yard of 19737 Drop Forge Lane and fire coming from the house located at 19733 Drop Forge Lane. 

Firefighters initiated simultaneous attacks on the fire and an initial search was conducted in 19733 for reports of possible people trapped inside.  Quickly deteriorating conditions, including compromised structural integrity, necessitated almost immediate evacuation of fire and rescue personnel from the home.  Exterior fire extinguishment efforts continued.

In addition, firefighters were simultaneously checking the downed plane and located three victims who were pronounced deceased on the scene.

Fire investigators arrived on the scene and assisted MCPD and NTSB with the investigation.  It was determined the house at 19733 caught fire as a result of the plane crash next door.  Two other houses received structural damage only as a result of the crash. 

After the fire was extinguished and the house was stabilized, a search resumed for the reported missing individuals in 19733.  All three were located together and removed. 

In total there were six fatalities:

Three occupants of 19733 Drop Forge Lane; a 36 year old female, a 3 year old male and a 7 week old male.

Three occupants of a Phenom 100 EMB-500 aircraft.

Physical damage estimates:

19733 Drop Forge Lane with damage estimate of approximately $400K 

19740 Drop Forge Lane received approximately $150K in structural damage; no fire, occupants escaped without injury 

19737 Drop Forge Lane (immediately next door) received approximately $50K in structural damage; no occupants were home at time 

Phenom 100 EMB-500 aircraft valued at $3.7M

Chief Lohr Presents Citations for Bravery

On Friday, August 8 Fire Chief Steve Lohr presented several citations for bravery.  The recognition was related to a tragic two-alarm fire that occurred on January 8, 2014: Young Child Dies in Two-Alarm Fire 

Below Grade Rescue

At 8:52 AM units from Montgomery County Fire and Rescue responded to a call at the intersection of Mid County Highway & Washington Grove Lane for a report of a man who had fallen into a 16 foot trench. 

It took approximately 24 fire fighters a little under an hour to remove the individual from the trench.  He was transported to an area hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

A couple of photos from the scene below.

Courtesy of Capt. Oscar Garcia

Courtesy of Fire Fighter Sean Carroll

MCFRS Hosting a Fire & Life Safety Expo and Open House

On Saturday October 29^th from 10am to 4pm – MCFRS will host a Fire & Life Safety Expo and Open House for the general public at the Public Safety Training Academy in Rockville.

The event will feature emergency equipment from throughout Montgomery County, as well as live fire and rescue demonstrations, moon bounce, fire truck displays, our specialty team K9’s, educational activities for all ages and other interactive activities for the whole family!  Food vendors will also be on site.

The women and men of Montgomery County Fire & Rescue look forward to meeting you on:

When:              Saturday October 29^th

Where:             Public Safety Training Academy

                        9710 Great Seneca Highway

Rockville, MD. 20850

                       

Time:               10 AM to 4 PM

As always, please remember to check your smoke alarms to make sure they are working and have a home fire escape plan that identifies two ways out of each room and a family meeting place outside in case of fire.

 

MCFRS, Mitsubishi Motors, Kids Safety First and Safe Kids Team Up to Conduct Car Safety Seat Check

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children 3 to 14 years old. Each day in the U.S. an average of 4 children are killed in traffic crashes, 529 are injured and National data show that 73% of all child seats are misused.

With the busy summer travel season underway, Fire Chief Richard Bowers will be on hand to kick off the event and to accept a generous grant of $2000.00 from Mitsubishi Motors that will be used to purchase seats and host events in Montgomery County. At Saturday’s event, child passenger safety technicians from Montgomery County Fire Rescue and other volunteers will be available to inspect and install car seats and provide parents and caregivers with one-on-one instruction on how to properly use their child’s infant, toddler or booster seat. Scheduled appointments are preferred, but drop in appointments will be accommodated as well. Montgomery County has completed over 117,000 car seat inspections since March 2000 and has trained over 1,300 car seat technicians.

WHEN: July 23: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

WHERE: King Mitsubishi
16160 Frederick Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20877

For information on scheduling an appointment, please call 301-742-1850. The last car seat inspection will start at 1:30 p.m.

Significant Fire & EMS Incidents From July 4 through July 10

Battalion 1 Incidents

• House Fire in the 500 block of E Indian Spring Drive - Report of smoke coming from the house. Fire Units arrived to find smoke showing on the front side of house and heavy fire from the one side of a single story ranch style home with a basement. Second Alarm requested and dispatched. Fire extinguished with interior attack. Second alarm placed in service without being utilized. 1 FD injury, no civilian injuries, 1 civilian occupant displaced and refused Red Cross. Cause undetermined with $350K loss to structure and $150K loss of contents.

Battalion 2 Incidents

• House Fire in the 4100 block of Edgevale Ct. Fire Units arrived to find smoke showing from one side of the house with a working bedroom fire and all occupants out. Contained and extinguished quickly. Two occupants displaced. $250K loss to structure and $50K to contents.

• Hazardous Materials Incident in the 20 block of W. Irving Street - Hazmat call for Nitric Acid Spill inside a single family home. Fire Units found very small spill which was cleaned up by Haz Mat Unit.

Battalion 3 Incidents

• Drowning at Wisteria & Sky Blue Drive - Units responded to a reported drowning at Gunners Lake. Units AOS to find working code and transported to a local hospital.

• Hazardous Materials Incident in the 12400 block of Parklawn Dr., (NIH Fed facility) for unknown powder spill on first floor. Powder was residue from steam autoclave disinfectant machine due to incomplete combustion. Tested powder, no hazard at all. No loss or injuries.

• Injury in the 16600 block of W Willard Rd @ Poolesville GC - one run over by golf cart. Patient transported Priority 2 with significant injuries to a local hospital.

• Gas Leak in the 5700 block of Stillwell Rd - Significant Inside gas leak. Evacuations of near by homes required until situation mitigated.

• Disabled Boat @ Whites Ferry – Service Call for Tow of disabled boat. Significant water & aerial assets utilized. Were able to tow boat to Rileys Lock

Battalion 4 Incidents

• House Fire in the 14000 block of Punch Street - Fire Units found a propane grill that had been on fire on a deck with a wood frame roof overhead. Fire had been extinguished by garden hose prior to arrival. $1K loss to contents and $4K to the structure.

• House Fire in the 13000 block of Beacon Hallow Lane - Dispatched for a house filling with smoke. Fire Units arrived on scene with nothing showing, and quickly determine cause to be overheated garbage disposal.

Battalion 5 Incidents

• Motor Vehicle Crash in the 13600 block of Parkland Dr - Fire Units found a small SUV that went off road into a 1 story house, trapping occupants of the car. Low-tech rescue from car confirmed 2 occupants 1 with minor injuries and 1 arrested by MCPD. 3 occupants of the house, 1 transported to an area hospital for evaluation.

• Injury in the 6500 block of Olney-Laytonsville Rd – Fire Units found a 7 year old female who fell onto a board w/nails sticking out of it, impaling it into her head. She was flown to local hospital via Trooper 3. Mobile Crisis Team requested for campers/counselors.

A Tale of Two Fires

This past Friday, MCFRS responded to an apartment fire on Quince Orchard Boulevard in Gaithersburg. A women occupant of the apartment called 911 to report the fire after being awakened by a working smoke alarm in the unit. The woman was treated for smoke inhalation at a local hospital and her injuries were not serious.

A week before, a 71 year old male was tragically killed in a fire in his town house. The home did not have a working smoke alarm. While there were other factors associated with this fire – his electric and gas service had been shut off – the presence of working smoke alarms provide early warning in the event of fire in the home and increase your chances of surviving a fire. Between 2003–06 more than 66 percent of home fire deaths occurred in homes without a working smoke alarm (from NFPA).

Please check your smoke alarms to ensure you they are working. If you find yourself in need of a new smoke alarm, and are hard pressed to buy a new one, please know that MCFRS has a program to provide and install FREE smoke alarms! Call 311 to learn more! We also provide a home fire safety evaluation that you can schedule by calling 311 as well.

NEWS RELEASE: Major Residential Fire Study to be Issued Today

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland will issue the results of a multi-institutional landmark national study on the effects of firefighter staffing levels and crew arrival times on residential firefighting operations. The report provides scientific data that will help inform fire chiefs and public officials make decisions on firefighting budgets, crew sizes and placement of fire stations. The field experiments were conducted at the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Academy in Rockville, Md. Fire crews from Montgomery County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Virginia responded to live fires during the field experiments within this facility.
Speakers will include principal investigators from NIST and the International Association of Fire Fighters. A public stakeholder meeting follows immediately.

When: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 9:00 a.m. EDT

Where: Washington Hilton, Jefferson East (Concourse Level) 1919 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20009 202-483-3000

Teleconference Call in Number for Reporters: after 8:45 a.m. (800) 857-9638 Passcode: 29459

Background: For an earlier report on the study see a February 10, 2009 article at http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2009_0210.htm#fire

Note to Editors: B-roll video is also available upon request.

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