By Heather Mongilio
The Carroll County Times
MOUNT AIRY, Md. — A fire in a vacant Mount Airy building was caught Wednesday night after an off-duty Mount Airy firefighter spotted it on his way home.
A fire broke out around 9:35 p.m. Wednesday in the 300 block of Main Street, according to a notice of investigation from the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
Greg Lawson, a paid firefighter with Mount Airy’s fire company, was coming home from work when he smelled the smoke. He then saw the fire in the building’s windows, said Doug Alexander, spokesman with the Mount Airy fire company.
Lawson was about 300 to l400 feet away from the fire station, and he drove back to the station to alert the rest of the on-duty firefighters there was a fire nearby, Alexander said.
The fire started under the basement floor of the building, Senior Deputy Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire said, and burned through the first floor and was extending to walls, Alexander said.
About 35 firefighters with the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company, as well as with fire companies from Howard, Montgomery and Frederick counties, responded and were able to control the fire in about 20 minutes, according to the release, though Alexander said it was under control in about 3 minutes. Alkire said the firefighters did a “fantastic job” in keeping the fire contained.
While the fire was contained to a small part of the building, Alkire said, it did cause $15,000 worth of damage to the structure, according to the notice. The owner will have to replace the floors and walls where the fire spread, Alexander said.
No one was living in the house at the time, Alkire said, but the owner was in the process of selling it, according to the notice. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, as of 11:50 a.m. Thursday, Alkire said.
Copyright 2016 the Carroll County Times