One MD FF released, 2 in fair condition at burn unit. New details and pictures on the collapse and the self-rescue by three firefighters.

Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service photos of Captain/Paramedic R. Dwayne Dutrow (top) and Firefighter/Paramedic James Heikka (middle), Firefighter/Rescuer Mark Mechlin (bottom)

Watch 9NEWS NOW report from Sunday, 11:00 PM

Watch 9NEWS NOW report from Monday, 7:00 PM

Download fireground audio of 3-alarm fire with mayday at 12,819 Twinbrook Parkway

On Sunday, Captain R. Dwayne Dutrow was taken out of ICU, but remains in the Burn Unit at the Washington Hospital Center. Captain Dutrow is the most seriously injured of the three firefighters hurt while fighting a fire in Rockville, Maryland early Saturday morning.

The 38-year-old Dutrow is a 17-year veteran of the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. He is suffering from burns to his arms, legs, face and hands, as well as possible internal and orthopedic injuries.

Dutrow, along with Firefighter James Heikka and Firefighter Mark Mechlin, fell from the top floor to the middle floor of a burning garden-apartment building after what is being described as a catastrophic floor collapse. Both Captain Dutrow and Firefighter Heikka were then further injured after escaping through a window to the ground, approximately 14-feet below.

Firefighter Heikka is 31 and an 8-year member of the department. He has burns to the arm and leg, and facial lacerations. Firefighter Mechlin is 23 and has been on the job for just a year. His injuries are considered less serious, with a leg burn (Update: As of 3:30 PM, Monday, FF Mechlin has been released from the hospital. Captain Dutrow and FF Heikka are in fair condition.)

Timothy Moran. Courtesy Philip Sandoe.

Killed in the fire is 50-year-old Timothy Moran. Moran’s body was found in the same apartment where the firefighters landed. Montgomery County investigators say the fire started in that apartment and is believed to be accidental. According to Moran’s family he is the son of a former firefighter from Silver Spring, Charles K. Moran. The family has asked that donations be made in the names of the injured firefighters to HEROES, Inc.

On Sunday evening, STATter 911 talked with Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service spokesman Pete Piringer who provided new details about the events leading up to the firefighters’ injuries. Piringer says all of the information is preliminary and is based on brief talks he had with the firefighters, command officers and investigators.

Side A of 12,819 Twinbrook Parkway

Piringer says the three injured firefighters were part of Engine 723, the first arriving engine company. The fire was reported just before 1:00 AM and the first units were presented with a number of occupants who were still in the building.

12,819 Twinbrook Parkway is a garden-apartment building believed to have been built in the 1960s. It is at one end of a group of three attached buildings. The building is on a slope showing two floors in the front and three in the rear. There are ten apartments with two on the terrace level, four on the first floor (apartments 101-104) and four on the second floor (apartments 201-204).

According to Piringer, Captain Dutrow led his crew with an attack line, up the interior stairway on Side A into apartment 203. Apartment 203 is essentially Quadrant C on the top floor. While attacking the fire, Piringer says the floor near the bedroom suddenly collapsed spilling all three firefighters into the fire below in apartment 103.

Piringer says this was not a small hole in the floor, but a large section of the floor that gave way.

Engine 723’s crew took a line into apartment 203, the door straight-ahead at the top of the stairs

STATter 911 talked to neighbors who were on Side C at the time of the collapse. They report a sudden increase in fire coming from apartment 103 and possibly 203. A moment later they saw two firefighters appear at a Side C window on the middle level with a great deal of fire around them.

The witnesses describe the first firefighter as rolling over the window sill to the ground, about 14-feet below. The second firefighter was having a more difficult time getting out of the window and apparently fell head first to the ground.

Piringer says that description is consistent with what he has heard, so far, about the escape from the flames by Captain Dutrow and Firefighter Heikka.

Witnesses say Captain Dutrow and Firefighter Heikka exited through the now boarded up window on the middle level, to the left of the balcony.

Firefighter Mechlin was still in the burning apartment. According to Piringer he landed with the hose still in his hands and a large piece of furniture on top of him. While trapped, Mechlin tried to spray water in the direction of the other two firefighters who he could hear toward the window. Because of the way he was trapped Mechlin cou
ld not reach his radio, but a mayday had already been called.

Mechlin was soon able to free himself. At about the same time he felt water spraying from the rapid intervention team assigned to find him. Piringer says Mechlin saw a light from one of the firefighters and made his way to the crew.

Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service photo of collapse area showing hose that was in Firefighter Mechlin’s hands and the furniture that trapped him

Despite being exposed to the fire the longest, Mechlin’s injuries are less severe. Piringer says one theory is that the piece of furniture helped shield him from the fire.

Piringer says the dire situation had all three men thinking they may have fought their last fire, but in the end their training, experience and a little luck pulled them through.

A wider view of Side C at 12,819 Twinbrook Parkway