Unattended Candle Causes $20K In Damage To Franklin Farm Home

HERNDON, VA — An unattended candle led to $20,000 in damage to a Herndon-area home on Friday, according to a post on the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department's blog.

Units were dispatched around 12 p.m., for the report of a house fire in the 13000 block of Farthingale Drive in the Franklin Farm neighborhood. Arriving on the scene, fire personnel observed smoke showing from the second floor of a split-lev, single-family home. They were able to extinguish the fire quickly.

One of the home's occupants was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation, but no other people — neither civilian or firefighter — was reported injured.

The fire was first noted when the smell of smoke awoke one of the home's three occupants. After observing the fire in a glass vanity in her bedroom, she alerted the two other occupants. They all exited the home and called 9-1-1.

Following an investigation, fire officials determined the blaze was accidental and caused by an unattended lit candle. They estimated the home sustained about $20,000 in damage due to the fire.

The fire displaced the home's three occupants, who declined assistance from the Red Cross.

Units on scene of a house fire in the 13000 block of Farthingale Drive. Fire on second floor. Crews working to extinguish. #FCFRD pic.twitter.com/tLEAhu5lry
— Fairfax County Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) June 25, 2021