FREDERICK, Md. — Multiple people are without a place to call home after a massive fire broke out at a three-story building in Frederick, Maryland, Wednesday night.
Frederick County firefighters were dispatched just before 9:40 p.m. after a report of a fire at a multi-family building on West 2nd Street in downtown Frederick.
At the scene, fire crews could see the flames showing from the back of the building.
Firefighters immediately began to extinguish the flames, enter the building, and perform searches on all three floors. The fire department says the fire rapidly spread through the building leading to a second, and eventually third alarm being called to get more firefighters to the scene.
The fire took over four hours to be declared under control with over 120 responders from Frederick, Washington, and Montgomery Counties along with Hagerstown City and Ft. Detrick fire departments helping to tackle the large flames. Firefighters continued to work two more hours to extinguish hotspots.
The residents, which lived on the second and third floor of the building while the first floor was for business spaces, were able to safely evacuate. Though all the people who were home at the time of the fire were able to escape, some pets including a cat, two rats, and a pet snake died.
The American Red Cross is working to help the eight residents who were displaced by the fire.
The estimate of damage and cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Frederick County Fire Marshal’s Office.
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