A pickup truck caught fire early Friday morning in a Prince Frederick park and ride lot, causing an estimated $9,000 in damage before firefighters brought it under control, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
The fire was reported around 2:45 a.m. at 250 Silverwood Lane, where a passerby spotted flames coming from a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup with the owner on scene. Investigators determined the fire started in the engine compartment and was accidental, caused by a mechanical failure. Prince Frederick Volunteer Fire Department responded as the primary agency, bringing the single-alarm fire under control in about 15 minutes with 10 firefighters on scene. No injuries were reported, and no one was displaced as a result of the fire, since it was contained to the vehicle itself. The truck was not equipped with a smoke alarm or fire suppression system, though such systems are not standard equipment in most passenger vehicles.
The State Fire Marshal’s Southern Region office, which is investigating the fire, is based at the Louis L. Goldstein Multi-Service Center in Prince Frederick. The Office of the State Fire Marshal, a division of the Maryland State Police, traces its roots to 1894, making it the oldest state fire marshal’s office in the country and the second-oldest state law enforcement agency in Maryland, and its roughly 75 employees include about 45 sworn deputy fire marshals alongside civilian fire protection engineers, inspectors and investigators. The Southern Region office covers Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties, handling fire code enforcement, arson investigation and origin-and-cause determinations for fires like Friday’s.
Prince Frederick Volunteer Fire Department has responded to a range of fire calls across the county seat in recent months, from structure fires to vehicle incidents. In April, roughly 30 firefighters from Prince Frederick and Mechanicsville, with support from Huntingtown, battled a garage-origin house fire on Clay Hammond Road that displaced two residents and caused an estimated $200,000 in damage. The department, which serves Prince Frederick, Port Republic and the surrounding area, is one of several volunteer companies that make up Calvert County’s fire and rescue system, which relies heavily on volunteers who balance the demands of emergency response with full-time jobs and family life.
Engine compartment fires like Friday’s are among the more common types of vehicle fires nationally, frequently traced to mechanical or electrical failures rather than collisions. Fire officials generally recommend that drivers pull over immediately and exit the vehicle at the first sign of smoke or unusual smells from the engine area, rather than attempting to fight a vehicle fire themselves, given how quickly fuel and other flammable components under the hood can accelerate a fire.
Anyone with additional information about Friday’s fire is asked to contact the Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Southern Region office at 410-414-3615.
