Home»BALTIMORE COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2008 Fires and Incidents»4-Alarms 7-9 Girard Dr. 3-3-08

Photos by: Firefighter J. D. Dwyer, Howard County Fire and Rescue

On Monday, March 3, 2008 a four alarm fire destroyed two apartment buildings in the Queen's Ridge Apartments located at 7-9 Girard Drive in Woodlawn.
At about 2:30PM the fire was reported on the top floor of the three-story brick apartment building. The first units on the scene had reports of people trapped and some residents were already making their escape, with bed sheets tied to the balcony railings, to the lower balconies. Heavy smoke and fire was showing and a second alarm was quickly struck out. One of the first crews on the scene, from Truck 13, was attempting to enter the building and search for trapped victims, when they were overcome with heavy heat and smoke and had to retreat. A Mayday was sounded and five firefighters were injured as a result and taken to the hospital with heat exhaustion, burns and other minor injuries. The evacuation alert was sounded and it quickly became an exterior firefighting operation. When the fire broke through the roof a heavy wind was fanning the flames and within minutes the whole roof became fully involved. With the heavy smoke lingering on the ground, visibility became a problem for a while. A third alarm was then sounded and about a half hour later a fourth alarm was struck out for additional manpower. The fire was brought under control about two and a half hours later.
Each building housed 11 apartment units. The building at 7 Girard Drive was completely destroyed and had to be razed. Number 9 Girard Drive had a lot of units damaged by smoke and water. About 23 adults and 13 children were displaced by the fire and one civilian was taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation.
The injuries to the firefighters proved to be minor in nature and they were all released from the hospital later that evening.
Firefighters were on the scene well into the night and the next day investigators determined that the fire had been accidentally set.