Nearly 60 people are starting the new year looking for a new place to live after fires tore through seven buildings in Montgomery County over the weekend, causing around $2 million in damages.
One of the worst was at a condo complex in Gaithersburg. 42 people were forced out of the Potomac Oaks Condominiums just before 5a.m. Saturday. It took more than one hundred firefighters over three hours to knock the flames.
One police officer was taken to the hospital, treated for smoke inhalation and then released. No one else was hurt. Investigators are still looking into what sparked the fire, but they believe it was accidental. 12 condos will be unlivable because of the damage.
Then a few hours later firefighters were called to a home on Outpost Drive in North Potomac. The fire started on the first floor, then spread to the second floor and the attic. Two adults and two kids were evacuated, no one was hurt. The fire was caused by fireplace ashes put inside a plastic bag inside the house next to the hearth. Officials estimate the fire caused $250,000 in damage.
Then at 8:30p.m. Saturday firefighters were called to a home in on Larkmeade Lane in Potomac. More than 75 firefighters worked to douse the heavy fire that tore through the home, causing several walls to collapse. No one was hurt, but two adults were displaced. The fire caused around $1 million in damages.
