MILLERSVILLE, Md. — What started with a fire inside the garage ended after quickly destroying most of a two-story house in the 1100 block of Nichols Court in Millersville on Thursday.
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“I heard firetrucks coming and I heard popping noises and to my shock to witness their home on fire was really, really emotionally very upsetting,” said Andrea MacDonald, a nearby neighbor.
Anne Arundel County Fire Captain Jennifer Macallair says the homeowner dialed 911 after discovering the fire.
Fire ravages home in Millersville
“He was reporting and was telling them that his car was now on fire and it was catching the house on fire and from there, obviously, they put out the tones for our apparatus.”
Anne Arundel County’s newest fire station was the first to respond to the fire in just under four minutes’ time.
But even with the Crownsville crew covering the two-mile trip in record time, they arrived to find flames had spread over the entire roof.
Both occupants and their dog had already made it out safely so firefighters attacked the fire from the exterior until it could be extinguished.
While the cause of the fire remains unknown, Captain Macallair says homeowners can follow some safety checks with the changing seasons.
“As the temperatures are changing, checking the fuel loads, checking the things in your homes. If you’re turning your heat off, making sure that you’re doing that safely and turning those HVAC units on safely. Those are the kinds of things when they haven’t run for a couple of months that can always cause some issues.”
One firefighter suffered minor injuries and had to undergo treatment for heat stroke but has since been released in the aftermath of the fire.
“So the firemen---I just thank them so much for taking care of their home as best as they could and all of us here,” said MacDonald, “So to see it today, the condition that it’s in is… yes… I’ve never witnessed anything like this.”
