CHESAPEAKE BEACH — A pickup truck burning in a Chesapeake Beach intersection Monday afternoon threw off enough heat to set a utility pole on fire and melt the siding of an occupied house next to it before volunteer firefighters put it out, the North Beach Volunteer Fire Department said.
No one was hurt. The truck was a total loss, but the fire never got inside the house, where the damage was limited to melted siding, according to the department’s account of the call.
A resident was already fighting the fire with a garden hose when the engine arrived, but the flames were too intense for a household hose stream to hold back, the department said.
Four firefighters, one engine
The Calvert County Emergency Communications Center sent the North Beach company, Company 1, at 3:55 p.m. Oct. 19 for a vehicle fire in the 4000 block of 15th Street. Engine 12 responded with four firefighters.
They found a pickup truck with a trailer attached burning heavily in the intersection of 15th and B streets. Radiant heat from the truck had ignited a nearby utility pole and was melting the siding on a house close by, the department said.
The crew stretched a 1 1/2-inch hose line from the engine and attacked the fire. Because the house was already taking damage, the officer asked dispatchers to fill out the area box assignment, the set of additional fire companies that would normally respond to a building fire at that address.
Those extra units were not needed for long. Engine 12 brought the fire under control quickly using only the 750 gallons of water it carries on board. The box assignment was canceled, and North Beach units handled the rest of the call on their own.
What was damaged, and what was not
The department reported the damage to the utility pole to the utility companies. Nothing inside the trailer was reported damaged.
The department did not say what started the fire, who owned the truck or whether anyone was in it when the fire began. It also did not give a dollar estimate of the loss.
A century-old company
The North Beach department is one of Calvert County’s volunteer fire companies and marked its 100th anniversary this year. Earlier this month, county commissioners backed a $471,000 grant toward a new North Beach ambulance.
