It was 11:28 a.m. when the tones dropped for a commercial building fire at 21895 Pegg Road at the Lexington Park Senior Citizens Apartments. Now there are times that you will run a commercial fire alarm for buildings and you really don’t think too much of them because it happens so often. However, when the E.O.C. (Emergency Operations Center) pull the call out they dispatched it as a building fire so everyone took notice.

On the initial dispatch is was for Stations 3 (Bay District), Station 13 (Patuxent River), Station 9 (Bay District) and Station 7 (Hollywood) along with the Lexington Park Volunteer Rescue Squad. All units marked up soon after dispatch and Engine 32 arrived to the front of the building to see that it was being evacuated. Engine 32 laid out dual lines from the hydrant in front of the building to the front door. Engine 132 picked up Engine 32’s dual lines to supply them. The crew from Engine 32 knew the fire alarm was going off and they saw smoke coming from the front door with residents making their way out of the building. Engine 32's crew advanced a line in the front door and made their way down the hallway to room #119 on the first floor. Squad 3 arrived and assisted with primary search of the other rooms. Engine 91 arrived and laid a supply line to the sprinkler connection on side “B” of the building and Engine 73 took the hydrant to supply the line.
Now I can’t remember much but I think this is the first time that we have had any fire in the building that set off the sprinkler system. The sprinkler system held the fire in check until Engine 32’s crew were able to enter the room and finish extinguishment. Captain 3 held the overall command. Truck 7 (Hollywood) took the front of the building placing their ladder to the roof.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the State Fire Marshall’s office. There were two people treated by the Lexington Park Rescue Squad on the scene but didn’t require any transport from the scene. I think that everything went just the way it is designed to go and damage was kept to a minimum.