Deck Went Up in Flames at Columbia Apartment, Officials Say

A building was evacuated in Columbia Sunday after a deck caught fire at an apartment complex, officials said.

At 4:20 p.m. on Sunday, crews responded to a blaze in the 5600 block of Columbia Road, where heavy fire was showing from a deck on the fourth-floor, the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services reported. The fire was contained to the deck, according to the report.

Residents evacuated during the firefighting operation and were able to return home by Sunday evening, according to on-call public information officer Marc Fischer.

The fire was deemed to have been accidental, Fischer told Patch on Monday.

Nobody was injured but a resident was in danger, according to the report from the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services. “It is important to note that the resident of the apartment used multiple fire extinguishers in an attempt to extinguish the blaze,” the fire department said in a statement. “While the intent was noble, the resident risked injury in attempting to put out the fire.

“[The Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services] encourages residents to evacuate the building as quickly as possible and only to use a fire extinguisher on small, confined fires that are easily extinguished...”

A small fire, when use of a fire extinguisher would be OK, is a fire in a trash can, the department reported.

Photo Credit: Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services