Neighbors angry over waterfront blaze tactics. Anne Arundel County Fire believes firefighters saved the neighborhood. Raw video and news reports.
More fire and EMS news on STATter911.com
Watch 9NEWS NOW reporter Nancy Yamada’s 11:00 PM story
Watch raw video of fire and interviews by Tom Yeatman
WJZ-TV helicopter view of aftermath
Previous STATter 911 coverage including before and after pictures of the homes
One neighbor says it took 46 minutes for the first fire equipment to arrive at 3304 Shore Drive late Sunday night. Anne Arundel County fire officials say it was nine-minutes.
Other residents say the department’s hoses were too short. A battalion chief says the first supply line burned through as fire threatened homes on both sides of the street.
The people who live in Oyster Harbor believe it took firefighters way too long to put water on the fire and that the third house could have been saved. The fire department claims if it wasn’t for the stand the firefighters took, despite high winds and burning propane tanks, the whole end of the street could have been lost.
Such was the day for reporters trying to sort out two very different views of what happened in a fire that destroyed three homes and caused $2 million in damage.
The dead end street is in a neighborhood without hydrants. There is plenty of water around in the community along the Chesapeake Bay. Getting to it proved a problem for fire crews who say they had difficulty finding a place for pumpers to draft during low tide. Eventually a fire boat was able to supply land companies.
The criticism of the firefighters began when the fire was still burning. Freelance videographer Tom Yeatman heard and recorded the complaints. Those complaints continued as community leaders held a meeting Monday night.
The first negative comment to STATter 911 came around 9:30 Monday morning from Ian MacKinnon, community vice president and secretary, who says he was the second person to call 911. MacKinnon is critical of Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia’s account of the fire:
The facts as described are not my recollection. It was at least 20 mins after I called that the first engine arrived. Water was not seriously being pumped for at least an hour. We have been told that they couldn’t get the tanker in because there were already too many trucks in the area and they couldn’t get water from the bay because the tide was out. They also held back because of the power cable and the propane tanks.
The issue is that they were not pumping water and goodness knows why! 2 houses could have been saved.
If the wind had been in the other direction the whole street would have gone up and possibly the whole community.
They seemed to have no plan which is appalling.
Chief Tobia remained the point man throughout the day defending firefighter’s efforts to keep the blaze from spreading further and at the same dealing with the various obstacles so as not to jeopardize firefighter’s lives.
The department expects to conduct a critique later in the week. Neighbors want an outside review of how the fire was handled and are looking for a plan in case there is a next fire.
