Between 75 and 100 fire fighters fought the blaze.
Mt. Airy, Md (KM) A fire destroyed a commercial building in Mount Airy Thursday afternoon.
The call went at around 2:45 PM to 1010 South Main Street for a building fire. “When they got on the scene, they had fire through the roof of a major portion of the building, and they had exposure problems. The houses on the side of the building were in danger by the fire. They asked for a second alarm almost immediately upon arrival,” says Doug Alexander, the public information officer for the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company.
Personnel from surrounding jurisdictions responded. . “There were between 75 to 100 fire fighters involved from four counties, which include Carroll, Frederick, Howard and Montgomery County that responded to the scene,” says Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce Bouch. “It took a couple of hours to get the scene under control.”
There were no injuries.
Bouch says fire fighters had to battle the flames in a building that stored some dangerous materials, but he says it’s not sure what they were.. “We’ve not been able to make access. It was utilized as storage. A sign company was in part of the building so there are still a lot of things to ascertain as to exactly what is inside. But we had a full roof collapse and wall collapse as well,” he says.
The building is 10,000 by 12,000 square feet in size , and was once used as a car dealership.
No damage estimate is available at this time. Bouch says investigators hope to enter the building on Friday to determine the cause and damage estimate from the fire.
He says the building is located on the Frederick County side of the Mount Airy. “We are going to working in combination with the Frederick County Fire Marshal’s Office to bring everything together and get a good solid investigation completed,” says Bouch.
South Main Street in Mount Airy was closed during fire fighting operations. It has since reopened.
By Kevin McManus