$1 Million Total Damage To 6 Homes In 2 Fires

GERMANTOWN, MD — Two fires broke out within two hours of each other over the weekend in Montgomery County causing more than one million dollars total in damage, and both were caused by human error, the spokesman for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services says. The first fire was reported in Germantown early Sunday morning and damaged five homes. A second fire in Clarksburg was started by someone smoking on their back porch, officials say.

A fire began in the garage of a house in the 19000 block of Nobles Oaks Drive in Germantown about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, spokesman Pete Piringer told Patch. The fire was caused by misplaced fireplace ashes placed near combustible materials and damaged four other houses in the surrounding area for an estimated total of $125,o00.

According to news reports, authorities said the fire started at a child's Sunday night sleepover. The child and her friends made a fire pit in the backyard and improperly stored the ashes too close to the garage and the combustible chemicals inside the garage.

Firefighters reached the house at around 1 a.m. and contained the fire within minutes. They then realized four nearby homes were damaged by the flames when the smoke cleared. No injuries were reported.

Just a few hours later, a fire broke out in the 23100 block of Persimmon Ridge Road in Clarksburg at around 2:30 a.m., officials said.

Piringer told Patch that someone was smoking on the back porch of the home and didn't properly discard the smoking material.

According to The Washington Post, a Montgomery County police officer helped three families flee from the fire.

Officer John Roark arrived at the scene first and found the family of four sitting on the sidewalk in front of their burning home. He made sure all of the family members were out of the home, and then brought them across the street, the article states.

Roark then went door to door to houses on both side to warn neighbors of the fire. He evacuated three families from their homes by the time firefighters arrived to the scene.

“Flames were shooting toward the house on the immediate right,” Roark told The Washington Post. “As I was walking up to the house, a lady opens the door and closes it, and I said, ‘No, ma’am, you need to get your family out of here. Your neighbor’s house is on fire.’ They were a little confused because they were just waking up and trying to figure out why I was there.”

No one was injured in the fire, Piringer said.

The Montgomery County Fire Department offers many tips on how to prevent fires. These include:

• Have a smoke alarm on each level of your home and test them monthly. A working smoke alarm doubles your chances of surviving a fire.
• Create a home escape plan and plan two ways out of every room. Make sure family members know these routes.
• Home-fire injuries often occurring within the first 15 minutes of cooking. Make sure you pay attention and are not distracted while cooking.
• Don't overload electrical outlets and circuits. Don't place cords under rugs.
• Properly dispose of ashes in a metal container with a lid after putting your fireplace or wood stove out.

See all the tips here.

Photo: Pete Piringer, spokesman for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services