Fire Marshal Indian Head house fire takes 14 hours to extinguish; $750,000 loss

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NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION

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Date: 4/6/23

Time: 9:46 p.m.

Location / Address: 4860 Smallwood Church Road, Indian Head, Charles County, Maryland

Type of Incident: Fire

Description of Structure / Property: Single Family Dwelling

Owner / Occupants: Scott Hoppe

Injuries or Deaths: None

Estimated $ Loss: Structure: $ 550,000.00 Contents: $ 200,000.00

Smoke Alarm Status: Activated and alerted occupants

Fire Alarm / Sprinkler Status: N/A

Arrests(s): None

Primary Responding Fire Department: 10th District Volunteer Fire Department

# of Alarms: 2 # Of Firefighters: 100

Time to Control: 14 hours

Discovered By: Occupant

Area of Origin: Undetermined

Preliminary Cause: Under Investigation

Additional Information: The incident involved a single family dwelling. Firefighters arrived and found a large volume of fire in the roof area. A structural collapse of the roof structure occurred shortly after arrival, necessitating a defensive attack. Firefighters were unable to extinguish areas of hidden fire and made the determination to allow the fire to burn until it was accessible by master streams the following morning.
 
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