'Heat Was Just Too Intense': Rescuers at Plane Crash

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Even as jet fuel turned a house into an inferno, police officers and firefighters tried to find a way past the flames that trapped a Gaithersburg mother and her young sons inside after a plane crashed into the structure.

“We did everything that we could to try and save that family, but even the fire professionals with their full gear could not get into the home. I wanted nothing more than to kick in that door and carry them out,” Montgomery County Police Officer Simpson told WJLA.

The police officers and firefighters who rushed to the crash site were among those first responders honored Friday by the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce at its 41st annual Public Safety Awards Luncheon.

The responders honored were first on the scene of the Dec. 8 plane crash that killed six people, including a Gaithersburg mother and her two young sons. Federal authorities have said a pilot’s mistakes likely led a twin-engine jet to stall as it flew from Chapel Hill, NC, to Maryland. The crash happened less than a mile from the Montgomery County Airpark.

Related stories:

‘The World Is Our Family Now’: Husband and Father of Plane Crash Victims

Mom, Two Children Die When Plane Hits Their House

‘No Words Can Describe Our Loss:’ Gaithersburg Man

A fuel-filled portion of the jet slammed into the home of Marie Gemmell, 36, and her sons, Cole, 3, and Devin, 1 ½ months. Rescuers later found the bodies of the mother and sons, with Marie Gemmell evidently trying to protect her boys from the smoke and flames that enveloped their house.

The plane’s occupants who died were identified by Montgomery County Police as pilot Michael Rosenberg, 66; David Hartman, 52; and Chijioke Ogbuka, 31, all of Raleigh, NC.

Members from Paramedic Engine 728 Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, 6th District Station Montgomery County Police Department, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office were recognized with the Public Safety Unit Citation.

Paramedic Engine 728 was the first fire and rescue unit to arrive at the crash, where they found a house on fire and aircraft parts strewn across the neighborhood.

“Myself and Firefighter Dougherty made entry into the house and we advanced about 10 to 15 feet in, and the heat was just too intense and we had to pull back and wait for more firefighters to get there. And then we went back in,” Capt. Carl Mauney, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, told WJLA.

Those honored with the citation included: Captain Carl Mauney, Master Fire Fighter Rescuer Clark Oliver, Fire Fighter Rescuer III Christopher Crown, Fire Fighter Rescuer II Adam Dougherty, Police Officer 3 Steve DesLauriers, Police Officer 3 John McGaha, Police Officer 3 Michael Simpson, Police Officer 1 Julia Chesley, Police Officer 1 Andrew Curran and Deputy Robert Balser.
The crash happened shortly after Marie Gemmell’s husband, Ken, had dropped off their daughter, Arabelle, at school and he was safely at work in Virginia.

The random disaster touched people across Maryland, around the United States, and worldwide.

“It is amazing to me that this touched so many people to try to reach out and try to console us in this trying time,” Ken Gemmell said later. “Arabelle has told me the world is our family now.”

An online fundraiser via a GoFundMe account to help survivors Ken Gemmell and his daughter, Arabelle, had more than $495,000 raised by nearly 10,500 donors by March 16.

»Investigators at the scene of a plane crash in Gaithersburg that killed six people. Credit: Pete Piringer/MCFRS Photos of Marie Gemmell and family from Facebook/GoFundMe site

See also:

• Passenger Identified in Plane Crash; Investigation Continues
• Mom, Two Children Die When Plane Hits Their House
• Death of Mom, Sons in Plane Crash Sends Shockwaves Through Community
• UPDATE: 6 Dead After Plane Crashes into Gaithersburg House: Reports
• Pilot in Gaithersburg Crash Had Similar Stall Problem in 2010 Plane Crash: Authorities
• Friends, Strangers Donate More Than $340K to Plane Crash Family