Greenbelt 2nd Alarm- Rescues Made
March 19th- 0845am, County Fire/EMS Communications dispatched a box alarm (14-02) for an apartment fire in the 6100 block of Breezewood Dr in the City of Greenbelt. The first arriving unit, Berwyn Heights Rescue Squad 14 and Ambulance 14 (volunteer-staffed), encountered heavy fire in two apartments located in the rear of the building. Upon entering the stairwell, Squad 14 noticed smoke coming from apartments on all three floors. Given the severity of the conditions, the Battalion Chief called for a second alarm, bringing additional resources to the scene. Squad 14 split its crews to perform primary searches across all three floors of the building. One team located three residents in an adjacent second-floor apartment and successfully assisted them out through the stairwell. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew continued searching and opening up the building to support the engine companies as they worked to extinguish the fire. At the same time, BHVFD Volunteers staffing Ambulance 14 deployed ground ladders off of Beltsville VFD Truck 31 to rescue four occupants from their balconies at the rear of the building. After all the residents were safely removed and the fire was fully extinguished, Company 14 operated at the scene for about three hours before returning to service.
Photo credit: Official Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department Page and BurtonsvilleVFD
