House fire in Anne Arundel County under investigation

BALTIMORE -- The Anne Arundel County Fire Department responded to a fire at a home near the 4000 block of Patuxent River Road in Harwood Friday morning.

The fire was knocked down in about an hour, according to the fire department. Crews were out of the area by 2 p.m.

No injuries have been reported at this time.

Paul Lutov, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, said he bought the house for a friend to live in. Once he heard about the fire Wednesday morning, he rushed over.

"I thought we'd be making funeral arrangements," Lutov said.

But fortunately, Lutov's friend wasn't home, telling WJZ he was out visiting a doctor.

Capt. Jenny Macallair with the Anne Arundel County Fire Department said they were alerted to the fire around 7:30 a.m. by a neighbor.

The home was engulfed in flames by the time crews arrived, which forced them to go on the defensive immediately.

"Defensive operation just means that the conditions are such when the crews arrive, that they can't even get into the house because there's so much fire at that point," Macallair said. "So, they have to start working to knock down that fire to make it even safe with their gear on to get into the home."

Despite the enormity of the fire, crews were able to knock it down with tens of thousands of gallons of water. But, with this being a no-hydrant area, the water had to be brought in with a drafting tank.

"Then that feeds the water to the fire. We had great collaboration and work this morning with our crews to do that very quickly and get the water that we needed," Macallair said.

Lutov is grateful no one got hurt in this.

"I've had situations in my life with terrible disaster but it turns out to be a wonderful blessing. You just never know," he said.

ATF Special Agent Certified Fire Investigators also responded to assist at the scene.

Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.