print 
e-mail 
comment
Loudoun County dispatchers received a call at approximately 3:39 p.m. Monday afternoon, of a fire raging at a brick rambler off Quarter Branch Road north of Lovettsville. Fire units from Lovettsville, Purcellville, Lucketts, Hamilton and Brunswick, MD, responded to the call, to find one half of the house engulfed in flames.
Loudoun Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Public Information Officers Mary Maguire and Dustin Sternbeck had little insight to offer, other than noting crews responded rapidly and were able to contain the fire mostly to the left half of the house. That portion was being rented as an apartment to a husband and wife, who were not at home when the fire broke out. The homeowner and landlord is currently hospitalized, and also was not at home. Only one of the tenants has thus far been located.
Because of the house's isolated location, fire crews utilized tanker trucks to pump water from a nearby pond of Lucketts Road to supply a dump tank, from which firefighters drew water to combat the fire. "Basically, first they drain the trucks that already have water on them. Then we have the tankers to haul water from the pond, to the dump tank, then we run it up a line to the house, so the firefighters always have a constant supply of water," Sternbeck said.
The cause of the blaze is still undetermined, but according to Maguire, fire marshals will move in to investigate, as soon as all the house's "hot spots" have been found and neutralized.
|
|
|
