Rebecca Rieland clung to her father as she and other Mount Airy residents watched firefighters battle a blaze Sunday that consumed six businesses and six apartments.
“Saturdays it was real crowded in town, real nice,” said Gary Rieland, the 12-year-old?s father. “My daughters loved it. It?s kind of a shame.”
The three-alarm inferno erupted from a brick oven, which is meant to burn constantly, in a pizzeria on the 200 block of South Main Street at about 4 a.m. Sunday, and spread through the adjacent buildings, Carroll County Volunteer Emergency Services spokesman Robert Farver said.
The businesses, which included a salon, interior design company and a computer store, were renovated about three years ago, residents said, as part of a Main Street revitalization program to attract more business.
The roof collapsed on one building around 11 a.m., while about 150 firefighters continued to battle the blaze, which took several hours to control.
The American Red Cross helped five displaced families, who lived in the apartments above the businesses, get hotel rooms, Red Cross spokesman Douglas Lent said.
Many of the town?s estimated 8,700 residents were on Main Street to watch the firefighters Sunday.
“A lot of people lost their livelihood,” Tracy McGaha said. “It?s a mess.”
Many had their power turned off so fire engines could maneuver the narrow street, where power lines hang.
“It?s sad,” lifelong resident Charmaine Hood said. “It?s such a small little town.”
Next to the charred buildings, Town Hall was recently renovated but was not harmed, Farver said.
An alley separated Town Hall from the buildings, because the grocery store that stood there burned down years ago, residents said.
“It?s a great little town,” Rieland said. “It?s the type of thing that?ll bring everyone together. It was such a big deal to renovate the downtown.”
No one was injured, Farver said.
Firefighters from Carroll, Howard, Montgomery and Frederick counties responded to the blaze.
