House Fire

A man was rescued this morning by firefighters at a dwelling in Dundalk, officials said. Firefighters dispatched at 5:11 a.m. to the 100 block of Avon Beach Road encountered heavy smoke from a building and upon entering rescued a man from the second floor. He was transported to Bayview Hospital and remained in critical condition late Monday night, officials said. As of 8 a.m., firefighters were still on the scene and an investigation of the fire is under way, officials said. jburris@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

A volunteer firefighter who joined the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company as a teenager more than a decade ago died Thursday of injuries sustained in a fire last week that also killed another man. Gene Kirchner, 25, died at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, officials said. "Everybody is extremely shocked by this," said Craig Hewitt, assistant chief of the fire company. "They're missing Gene right now. He was a very key part of our fire company, and he will be greatly missed. " Kirchner was one of the first firefighters to respond to the house fire on Hanover Road early on the morning of April 24. He tried to save a man trapped inside, officials said.

Three people died early Sunday in a house fire in Cumberland, according to the state fire marshal's office. A passerby spotted fire in a two-story, single-family dwelling at around 3 a.m. and called 911, officials said. Officials said that about 20 firefighters from Cumberland and Ridgely, W.Va., extinguished the one-alarm blaze within 20 minutes. The names of the victims were not released. Officials said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Tim.wheeler@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Over two years have passed since firefighter Mark Falkenhan was killed at an apartment fire on Dowling Circle in Towson. His death resulted, in part, from a collapse of the Incident Command System (ICS), when first-arriving units were faced with heavy fire and multiple rescues. ICS is a procedural policy for ensuring that command and control mechanisms are continually utilized during mitigation efforts at every incident. "Command" is assumed by the officer of the first-arriving unit and passed to the responding chief officer upon his or her arrival.

Firefighters who were tackling a one-alarm house fire in Woodlawn shortly after noon Thursday found a woman dead just inside the front door of the single-family dwelling. Elise Armacost, a spokeswoman for the county fire department, said fire crews who were summoned to the blaze in the 3100 block of Gartside Drive in northwestern Baltimore County came across the woman, who was "deceased from her injuries. " The victim's identity was not immediately released. Fire investigators remained at the scene in early afternoon and had not determined a cause of the fire.

Baltimore county firefighters responded to a single-alarm fire in a Middleborough row home today, fire officials said. Glenn Bitters, of the county's fire liaison office, said firefighters responded to the Epping Court home, where they found a fire on the second story. Bitters said the fire was quickly extinguished and the four adults believed to reside in the home were unharmed. No other details were available. erica.green@baltsun.com .

Baltimore County firefighters recovered a man's body from inside a North Point home during a small house fire Friday afternoon, according to fire officials. A department spokeswoman said firefighters were called to the 7600 block of Old Battle Grove Road about 2:35 p.m. and found a dead man in the living room of the home. The fire was confined to the living room area and generated significant heat, fire officials said. The cause of the man's death was not clear. The fire was extinguished a short time after firefighters arrived, according to fire officials.

Two people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation Sunday after a mid-day house fire in Glen Burnie. Two people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation Sunday after a mid-day house fire in Glen Burnie. Anne Arundel County firefighters were called to a house in the first block of Harvard Road at about 2 p.m., and found a fire burning in the home's kitchen. It was quickly brought under control, said Battalion Chief Steve Thompson. A 30-year-old man and a 3-year-old boy were taken to the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center for treatment for smoke inhalation in the hospital's hyperbaric chamber.

Multiple residents in Anne Arundel County were displaced Thursday evening after fires blazed through their homes in separate incidents. Fire officials first responded to the 6400 block of Lamplighter Ridge in Glen Burnie around 9:45 p.m. where a two-story townhome was ablaze. The 43 firefighters at the scene had situation under control within an hour, but not before three homes could endure $215,000 in damages, according to fire officials. Six people who were displaced in the event are now being assisted by the American Red Cross while a firefighter and 60-year-old male were treated for minor injuries at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center, officials said.

Fire crews from Howard, Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties battled a house and brush fire on Sunday in Laurel. According to the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, on Sunday at about 9:30 p.m., firefighters from the Savage station were alerted to a brush fire in the 9000 block of Whiskey Bottom Road in Laurel. Units arrived to find an abandon house engulfed in fire, as well as several brush fires. Additional units from the three counties were called for assistance.

When the Hontz family lost their Hanover home to a fire last summer, it wasn't long before they started missing the basic necessities. First, it was a toothbrush. Then, a Band-Aid. But for Lauren Hontz, who was just 9 years old at the time, all she really wanted was a blanket to call her own. The family quickly received more blankets than they could possibly use, which gave Lauren an idea. If all she wanted was a blanket after her fire, then wouldn't other people want one too? With this in mind, she asked her parents if they could donate the extras.

Anne Arundel County fire officials say four adults from Arnold are being assisted by the Red Cross after an overnight residential fire displaced them. Fire officials say crews responded to the one-story house fire at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 900 block of Phillips Road in Arnold. Responders brought the one-alarm fire under control in less than 30 minutes, officials said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but officials said they believe it was electrical in nature.

One Harford County firefighter suffered burns and another became ill while combating a house fire Saturday night in the 1700 block of Harbinger Trail, Edgewood. The incident was reported at about 8 p.m. at a two-story, single family home, according to fire officials. Initial response came from the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company, along with the Abingdon Fire Company, Kingsville Volunteer Fire Company and the Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department. Fire officials thought there may have have been one person inside, so firefighters entered the house with hoses and began extinguishing fire on both floors.

Thanks to quick thinking by a Level Volunteer Fire Company firefighters and paramedics, a dog trapped in a burning house earlier this month was successfully resuscitated without a pet oxygen mask. The incident pointed up the need for local fire companies to be equipped with such equipment, and the staff of the Humane Society of Harford County stepped up earlier this week to make a donation of an animal resuscitation mask kit to the fire company. The donation was presented to the fire company Monday afternoon at the firehouse.

Fifty Baltimore County firefighters battled a house fire in the Hampton area on Sunday afternoon, the county Fire Marshal's office said. None of the seven family members living in the home were injured, officials said. Firefighters were called to the scene at about 12:40 p.m. and found heavy fire on the second floor of the home in the 1500 block of Providence Road. It took about an hour to get the fire under control, said Bruce Schultz, a captain at the Office of the Fire Marshal, in an email.

Occupants of an Edgewood townhouse escaped without injury Tuesday morning after a fire broke out in the kitchen, according to one of the responding fire companies. At 2:35 a.m., Harford County 9-1-1 received a call for a house fire in the 600 block of Harpark Court, near Edgewood Road, according to a media release from the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company, which was alerted to respond at 2:38 a.m., along with the Abingdon Volunteer Fire Company and the Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department, Edgewood Station.