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A lack of available fire hydrants made firefighting efforts difficult as a Montgomery County, Maryland, house burned early Monday morning.
The house is on Brooke Road and Chandlee Mill Road, near the Sandy Spring Slave Museum. Pete Piringer, of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue, said it started at about 4:30 a.m.
Two people were in the house, but got out OK, he added.
More than 75 firefighters were on the scene, and at least five water tankers were brought in to help put out the flames. Piringer said the fire took about 45 minutes to get under control.
The fire started on the second floor in a bathroom, and Piringer said that while the investigation continues, one of the people who lives in the house told him a space heater was running and it “probably overheated the electrical system.”
Piringer tweeted that the caused caused approximately $260,000 in damage.
Brooke Road between Celebrity Lane and Chandlee Mill Road reopened around 10 a.m.
Below is a map of the area:
[google_map latitude=”39.160193″ longitude=”-77.031930″ zoom=”13″ height=”300px” location_label=”Brooke Road house fire” dynamic_map=”false”]
WTOP’s Rick Massimo and Will Vitka contributed to this report.