UPDATE 02:19 pm 02/08/2011: From the Annapolis Fire Department:
At 10:46 a.m. today, thirteen emergency personnel from the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Fire Departments responded to St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, located at 109 Duke of Gloucester Street in Annapolis, Maryland for a report of an automatic water-flow alarm. Upon arrival, units discovered a sprinkler head in a closet, within the living quarters of a second floor residence of the church, had been activated. Upon his arrival, Battalion Chief 35 took command of the incident. According to St. Mary’s Facilities Director Don Jackson, water from the sprinkler head caused extensive but an undetermined amount of damage, which extended from the second floor to the basement. No injuries occurred as a result of the incident.
Emergency units cleared the location at 12:08 p.m. No further information is available at this time.
UPDATE 12:21 pm 02/08/2011: Mary McGuirt, Editor of Historic Annapolis Patch in a tweet advises that there was a malfunctioning sprinkler which caused the alarm and dispatched the fire department. The Capital is reporting that some offices on the first floor were flooded as a result.
An Eye On Annapolis reader sent the following email:
Just before 11:00 a.m., St. Mary’s Elementary school students were evacuated from a prayer service in the church due to a fire on the second floor of the adjoining building. All 300+ children were evacuated quickly and safely and returned to school. I did not see any visible smoke as we left, but am concerned as there were two trucks on the scene with a third on the way. Wondering if you have any updates? Concerned about the wind today and of course the historic church!
We did not receive a dispatch report on this incident and have a call into the Annapolis City Fire Department for clarification.
