Three fires and a resulting power shutdown Monday forced between 1,000 and 3,000 Springhill Lake residents out of their homes or without electricity, Prince George’s County Fire spokesman Mark Brady said.
Brady said 372 units in 31 buildings were affected. Nobody was injured. Now, management must check the buildings every hour and report no new issues to the fire department so some residents can stay.
“I expect this to be an extended period of time to identify the problem,” Brady said. “I expect it will be more than a one- or two-day operation.”
From around midnight through 10:30 a.m., firefighters responded to three separate fires in the 2,877-unit Springhill Lake apartment community in Greenbelt.
Brady said all three fires started in or around the electric panels of utility rooms in buildings, but they are “not suspicious whatsoever.”
“The only common denominator in all the fires is that they are electrical,” Brady said.
Just after midnight, 80 firefighters and other emergency personnel responded to a three-alarm blaze at 9150 Edmonston Road. Within approximately 45 minutes, Brady said, the fire was under control — after “gutting” 22 apartments and leaving 36 families without homes. Damage was estimated at $1.5 million.
Nine hours later, at around 9:15 a.m., firefighters responded to a 911 call at 9118 Edmonston Court.
Brady said the two-alarm blaze there, which drew 50 firefighters and emergency workers, was put out quickly and caused about $200,000 in damage. That fire forced about 33 familiesout of their homes and destroyed “four or five” apartments.
Firefighters still on scene were able to extinguish a third fire, at 9144 Edmonston Road, before it caused major damage around 10:30 a.m.
At about the same time, firefighters “detected a strong burning odor” in the basement of 9168 Edmonston Road. Fire/EMS Incident Commanders then asked Pepco to turn off power in the area.
A power “distribution station” was subsequently “shutdown until an electrical engineer, contracted by Springhill Lake management, can isolate and repair the problem,” the fire department said.
“We are working with the apartment complex management, as well as officials from PEPCO to determine exactly what is going on,” Brady said.
James Starks, 30, who has lived in Springhill Lake since 2004, said, “People complain all the time and it’s like pulling teeth to get stuff done around here.”
But Victor Bellavia, vice president/general manager of Springhill Lake, said, “That’s not true.”
The American Red Cross, the Office of Emergency Management and Springhill Lake management all are all assisting affected residents.
