This morning, at 0908hrs, the 0501 Fire Rescue Box was transmitted for the reported house on fire with people trapped at 729 Ontario Street. As units were marking up, Harford County DES advised they received of a report of a fire on the second floor & the report of two people possibly trapped. Chief 5-1 was first on scene, at 0910hrs, with smoke showing from the alpha side third floor of the three story dwelling. While conducting his 360, Chief 5-1 reported heavy fire from the second floor rear extending above and reported all occupants were accounted for. Engine 513 (1st Engine) was next on scene at 0913, and stretched through the front door. During the stretch, the crew found that the dwelling had been split up in to three separate apartments. Combined with low visibility, this created difficulty locating the seat of the fire. At the direction of Incident Operations, Engine 512 & Engine 211 reported to the rear & stretched up a ground ladder to the second floor, to begin knocking fire. As Engine 513 continued their search, they were able to locate access to the third floor through a small opening in a knee wall, which was covered by paneling. Once they made the third floor, they began knocking the rest of the fire that had extended above the second floor.
While this was occurring, other crews carried out the following tasks:
- Quint 5 – Vertical Ventilation, Search, Ladders, Overhaul
- Tower 5 – Ladders, Ventilation, Overhaul
- E511 – Supplied Quint 5
- E514 – Picked up Engine 513’s line @ Juniata & Ontario, Overhaul
- E515 – Picked up Engine 512’s line @ Adams & Ontario, Overhaul
- Rescue 5 – Air Cascade to fill SCBA Bottles
- Mini Pumper 5 – Search & Overhaul
- Chief 5 – Command
- Deputy Chief – Side A
- Chief 51 – Ops
- Safety 5 – Scene Safety
- E111, E213, Cecil E6 – Overhaul
- A592, A593 & Hart to Heart 1 – Medical & Rehab
- E411 – Transferred to Division 4
The Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal ruled the cause of the fire was accidental, due to cooking. Three adults were displaced as a result of the fire and are receiving assistance from the Crisis Center.
