Five firefighters and at least one civilian were injured Monday afternoon in a Woodlawn blaze so intense crews were prevented for hours from searching for potentially trapped victims, Baltimore County officials said.
Two 11-unit buildings in the Queens Ridge Apartments in the first block of Giard Road ? near Security Square Mall ? were destroyed in the four-alarm blaze, said officials who described the firefighters? injuries as minor. After making a “valiant” attempt to enter the building and search for victims, crews that initially arrived on the scene were ordered to evacuate the unstable building, said Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman.
“Our concern is that we have not been able to get in the building to do a search, so we can?t 100 percent say everyone was out when it happened,” Armacost said shortly before press time. “We?re hoping that is the case.”
Emergency crews were spotted loading a male civilian into an ambulance and officials had not reported additional injuries at press time. The department received calls for help just after 2:30 p.m., and crews from Violetville, Lutherville, Owings Mills, Reisterstown and Glyndon were still dousing flames pouring from the apartments at 4:45 p.m., complicated by heavy winds.
Police and American Red Cross teams were on the scene to assist displaced residents, some of whom were still trying to account for family members by evening. Fifteen families were misplaced, according to Douglas Lent, spokesman for the American Red Cross.
Firefighters knocked on the doors of nearby apartments and ordered residents to evacuate. Tameka Boston said her friend escaped, but did not have time to get her puppy. Jasbir Singh, whose apartment was not affected, contacted his brother by cell phone to tell him that his home was destroyed.
“What can you do?” Singh said. “His television, sofa, all his documents, any money in there ? gone.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
