WASHINGTON — A Sunday morning house fire in Clarksburg, Maryland, that caused about $700,000 in damages started from “improperly discarded smoking material” on the porch, officials said.
The $700,000 includes heat damage to the house next door, said Montgomery County Fire Spokesman Pete Piringer.
All four residents of the house in the 23100 block of Persimmon Ridge Road escaped harm, thanks to the quick response of the police officer who arrived first at the scene.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue said Officer Jon Roark made sure everyone was safely out of the burning house before running to the houses next door to evacuate the neighbors.
Roark went to one house he said appeared to be in danger of catching fire due to the massive amount of heat being generated from the blaze.
“I went over there and said ‘Get your family out of there now. Your house isn’t on fire yet, but it’s not safe.’ They started evacuating their people,” said Roark. “Everybody was just incredible. Surrounding neighbors came out and were offering to help.”
It took 75 firefighters to subdue the fire from the two-story house and make sure the blaze didn’t spread, Montgomery County Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said. The homes on both sides have some damage from the heat.
Two adults and two children were displaced as a result of the fire.
No one was injured.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Shortly before officers responded to the Persimmon Ridge Road fire, Montgomery County firefighters were at the scene of another fire in Silver Spring, Maryland. Crews put out a fire at the 11000 block of Mapleview Drive that spread from a shed. No one was injured, and officials do not know the cause of the fire.
WTOP's John Domen contributed to this story.
