Seven firefighters were injured last night when a routine fire went wrong in Riverdale, Prince George’s County. Three remain in the hospital, two with severe burns and one with a rib injury.
While no fire is routine, the initial call at 9:18pm for firefighters in Prince George’s County seemed usual enough–a house fire in the 6300 block of 57th Avenue in Riverdale.
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By 9:23pm, we knew something had gone wrong.
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By 10:09pm, we learned that 7 firefighters were seriously injured.
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This morning, it seems that 3 remain hospitalized; 2 with critical burns and one with injuries to his ribs.
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The Prince George’s County Fire Department has made the following statement in their blog:
Preliminary reports indicate that firefighters had initiated an interior attack on the fire when a sudden rush of air, fanned by high winds, entered from the rear of the house either from a door or window being opened or broken out. The sudden addition of a large amount of fresh air into the fire environment created a “fire ball’ inside engulfing the firefighters. Firefighters did all they could do to escape the untenable conditions that consumed the structure interior.