3-Alarm Fire Consumes Several Townhomes In Owings Mills
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (WJZ) -- It was a busy day for firefighters in Baltimore County. Tuesday, dozens of people lost everything after flames ripped through their complex.
Weijia Jiang has more.
Sky Eye Chopper 13 showed the massive fire as it engulfed a row of Owings Mills townhouses. Just after 2 p.m. Tuesday, heavy smoke poured out of the Morningside complex.
"It was large," said neighbor Sharon Shipley. "It was very large."
Now 13 families have to rebuild.
"They told me it's totally gone," said displaced tenant Pallav Mahendre.
That includes Mahendre's invaluable documents and passport. He's in Maryland on a work visa from India.
"Right now, I'm totally blank. I don't know when I'm going to sit and calm down," he said.
Gerald Goode is shaken up, too. He says the fire started in his ex-wife's house, where his 3-year-old, 7-year-old and 11-year-old sons live.
"I opened the door. My mom was like, `Get out the house!' and I was scared," said 11-year-old Gerald Goode, Jr.
"I just heard fear in her voice. Something was wrong. She left for one second [and] she saw flames in the kitchen," Goode said.
And that's exactly what investigators say. The fire started in the kitchen of one of the units, then spread to the roof. Older buildings like this usually don't have fire walls in the attic, so the flames spread quickly.
"All I could see was black smoke," said neighbor Sonny Anthony.
Adding brutal heat to the mix, firefighters say it was a dangerous scene. One volunteer was hospitalized for heat exhaustion.
"We opened a medical rehab. That way, we can rotate the crews, give them hydration, keep 'em relaxed," said Baltimore County Fire Specialist Jay Ringgold.
No residents were hurt, the best news for parents like Goode.
"I mean, they my everything," he said.
The firefighter who was taken to the hospital is expected to make a full recovery.
