Campus Hills Fire Sent 1 For Burn Treatment: Officials

HARFORD COUNTY, MD - Two people were injured in a fire off Campus Hills Drive Thursday afternoon that the fire marshal said was related to french fries.

A man was making grease for french fries around 3:05 p.m. when the grease ignited in the kitchen, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

The man, who lived with his grandmother in the split-foyer home in the 400 block of Campus Hills Drive, took the grease from the kitchen to the garage, officials said.

In the process, authorities said he burned his arm and items in the garage caught fire. After he tried to extinguish the blaze with a garden hose, he called 911, stating that the house was on fire and his grandmother was trapped inside. (For more on this and other local stories, get news alerts from Bel Air Patch and like Bel Air Patch on Facebook.)

The fire marshal said that 15 firefighters from the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company placed the blaze under control in five minutes.

Arriving crews found fire in the attached garage and quickly contained it, according to Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association spokesman Rich Gardiner.

While the fire was isolated to the garage, smoke had made its way throughout the residence, where Gardiner said one person suffered from smoke inhalation and another was taken to a regional trauma center for burn treatment.

Within an hour of their arrival, firefighters had cleared the scene, he reported.

According to the fire marshal, the cause of the accidental blaze was unattended cooking. The man who had been cooking suffered minor first-degree burns and was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, officials reported.

There was $2,000 in structural damage to the home and $1,000 in items inside that were damaged as well, the fire marshal said.

Since the damage to the home was minor, the fire marshal said the grandmother was able to remain in the house.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal was investigating the cause and origin of the fire.

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