Gusty Winds Keep Fire and Power Crews Busy on the Last Day of the Year

High winds which accompanied the end of 2008 caused numerous brush fires around Southern Maryland. In Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert there were over 20 such fires caused by downed and energized power lines, keeping SMECO as busy as fire crews.

While Bay District, Lexington Park and others worked
this fire, Second District had to cover a Lexington
Park brush fire.

At one point, fire crews had to respond to multiple fires having to cover each other’s territory. A Case in point: At approximately 5 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2008, Bay District, Lexington Park, and Ridge volunteer fire companies responded to a working house fire in Hermanville.

At approximately 6 p.m. in Lexington Park, the second district Engine 63 had to cover Bay District for a brush fire behind a residence on Pegg Ln. in Lexington Park.

The fiery day did not end until 2009 was here with firefighters from Bay District, Seventh District and Hollywood having to deal with a blazing shed fire north of State Route 4 on Three Notch Road in Hollywood.

In addition to the fire, SMECO crews were spread thin as there was sporadic power outages caused when wind blew trees across power lines. Power outages were reported in at least 40 locations throughout the day.

This Charles County fire
truck had a crash going to
one of many brush fires.

In Charles County, the biggest blaze was more than an acre off Gardiner Road in Waldorf. In that case, a fire truck heading to the fire, crashed into a dump truck. As a result, three people were transported to the hospital and additional fire units had to be called to put out the conflagration.

In Calvert, the fires started roaring at about 11 a.m. when Huntingtown VFD responded to a brush fire caused by power lines on Emmanuel Church Road. When units arrived they discovered another brush fire a few hundred yards away and more units were called. There were other fires handled by Str. Leonard, Solomon and Prince Frederick as well.