Firefighter Injured Battling House Fire in Hillsboro

On Tuesday evening, a fire broke out at a residence located at 21914 Main Street in Hillsboro, Caroline County. The structure involved was a two-story, wood-framed, single-family dwelling. The fire was reported by the occupants who noticed smoke and flames emanating from the first floor bedroom. They were able to evacuate the premises safely with their pet dogs and promptly contacted emergency services. The Queen Anne-Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Company responded to the scene, and the fire was elevated to a two-alarm status, with 60 firefighters involved in the operation. It took approximately one hour to bring the fire under control. During the firefighting efforts, one firefighter sustained injuries and was transported to a local medical center for evaluation. Thankfully, there were no other injuries or deaths reported.
Shore News Network

This Maryland team doesn’t hear the scream of sirens but the thump of helicopter blades

Firefighters from different areas of the state paired with the Maryland Army National Guard to train for worse case scenarios in the event of a water rescue. In an emergency, this team doesn't hear the scream of sirens they hear the thump of helicopter blades. Maryland's Helicopter Aquatic Response Team, HART, pairs with the Maryland Army National Guard to conduct hoist operations training. When the Key Bridge collapsed, they were on scene ready to put the training they learned into action. The team specializes in helicopter rescue to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies that may require air lift. "Everything we do is scripted, and we rely on muscle memory we're very strict on following safety procedures and following our standard procedures,” said Mike Berna, who is the Maryland HART Program Manager.
WMAR-TV ABC 2 Baltimore

Fire destroys cabin in Garrett County, officials say cause is still under investigation

Firefighters responded to a cabin fire in Garrett County on Monday afternoon. The fire was located at 145 Resh Hill Road in Grantsville. The owners say it is a single-story, wood framed farmhouse that was converted into a cabin. No injuries were reported at this time. Most of the structure had burned and fallen into the foundation upon fire department's arrival, fire officials say. Officials believe the fire started at the right of the cabin structure. The cause is still under investigation.
WBFF-TV FOX/MyNetworkTV 45 Baltimore

Region: Firefighters collaborate at World Fire Congress in Washington, DC to keep citizens safer

They have come from as far as Fiji and Croatia and as close as D.C. and Fairfax County, Virginia. Firefighters packed a conference room at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown D.C. on Tuesday for the inaugural World Fire Congress to collaborate and share information to better keep citizens across the world safe. U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell said 55 countries were represented at the conference. Participants talked about “challenges that we are all facing from a global perspective so that we can see if we can bring together solutions, best practices and find some areas for collaboration going forward,” she said. The summit will focus on four distinct challenges that the firefighting community is seeing across the world: large structure fires, climate change’s effects on the job, personnel health and fires stemming from emerging technologies like lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles.
WTOP-FM 103.5 Washington, D.C.

Online scammer steals $220,000 from Rockville Volunteer Fire Department’s new ambulance fund

The Rockville Volunteer Fire Department (RVFD) was the victim of an online hack last week that scammed the nonprofit organization out of $220,000 in funds raised to purchase two new ambulances, according to a department official. “Last week, we learned of a hack that we understand targeted us, along with multiple fire, rescue and EMS departments – unfortunately, due to its sophistication, we were one of its victims,” RVFD President Eric Bernard wrote Tuesday in an email to MoCo360. “Despite our safeguards, we fell short – and an unknown actor scammed us while we were in the process of buying two new ambulances to better serve Rockville.” Bernard said the RVFD filed reports with Montgomery County police and the FBI and reached out to county government officials.
MoCo360

Video shows woman setting fires to restaurant in south Baltimore

VIDEO: A popular South Baltimore restaurant was the victim of an arson attack Monday morning. Alex Perez, the owner of Papi Cuisine, told WJZ that the fire department called his business partner around 6:45 a.m. after a fire at their business. After reviewing surveillance video from the restaurant's cameras, the owners say a woman was at the scene on camera going in between two dumpsters in the alleyway behind the business before lighting fires. She is also seen throwing a cocktail bomb into their receiving door. Perez says the attack comes on the heels of petitions filed to get him to close his business. "We are resilient. We are just running a business here," Perez said. “We aren't doing anything wrong. When the health department comes, they sign off and see we are doing everything by the book."
WJZ-TV CBS 13 Baltimore