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Apartment building evacuated after early morning fire in Montgomery County
Authorities say an apartment building in Montgomery County was evacuated early Friday morning after fire tore through the building.
MONTGOMERY VILLAGE, Md. - Authorities say 10 people, including four children, were transported and dozens were displaced after an early morning apartment building fire in Montgomery County.
Firefighters responded around 5:30 a.m. to the blaze on Lost Knife Circle in Gaithersburg. Montgomery County Fire & EMS Spokesperson Pete Piringer says the fire is believed to have started in the living room of a third and top floor apartment. Flames then spread to the kitchen.
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Families displaced by Montgomery County blaze
Authorities say 10 people, including four children, were transported and dozens were displaced after an early morning apartment building fire in Montgomery County.
One man jumped from the third story. Piringer says that man suffered burns, smoke inhalation and may have also broken leg. This man, along with five other adults and two kids, were rushed to the hospital first. All are believed to be part of one family.
Piringer says four more people, two kids and two adults, were rushed to the hospital afterward. Piringer says all 10 people transported are believed to be related but living in different units.
Victoria Ramos told FOX 5 in Spanish that she lives next door and woke up scared, only to run out of the apartment barely grabbing a coat and shoes. Ramos says she went to their kitchen thinking the fire was in their unit. When she opened the door, Ramos says smoke filled her apartment. She and her roommates couldn’t see anything.
Red Cross Regional Disaster Officer for the National Capital Region, Paul Carden, says this is the fifth fire they’ve responded to in the past 72 hours.
Red Cross volunteers were on site Friday morning. They are now helping around 45 people displaced, paying for temporary hotel stay, food and clothing. Cardin says in just a few hours, the Red Cross will spend around $10,000 helping the 45 or more people now out of their homes. The regional spokesperson says anyone who wishes to help can call the Red Cross at: 1-800-RED-CROSS.
“A fire is a loss of a person’s sense of family - a sense of loss - that environment that they’ve created. And to have it happen on this holiday doesn’t help it. It even makes it worse because folks are going to be basically starting over, finding a new place going into the Christmas holiday so it’s a very difficult, emotional time,” said Carden.
Ramos told FOX 5 she felt nervous and didn’t know what to do. She waited in her car several hours after the fire, hoping to be let back inside her apartment. She also said everything in her unit was soaked.
No fatalities were reported. Several pets were also rescued.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.