Montgomery County firefighter among 226 to be honored at National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend

A former Montgomery County firefighter will be among 226 fallen firefighters to be honored at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend in Emmitsburg, Maryland on May 4 and 5, 2024. Master Firefighter Mark R. Fisher Jr. passed away on July 24, 2014 from illness related to his response to the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Fisher was also a member of the Maryland Task Force One Urban Search and Rescue Team, with whom he responded to other disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. He was with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service for 22 years, and also served as an instructor for the department. 

Fisher was a member of the Johnny Swamper Club, Frederick Elks Lodge No. 684, and the Loyal Order of the Moose No. 948 in Charles Town, West Virginia, and a life member of the United Steam Fire Engine Company, No. 3 Frederick. He left behind a wife, three children and five grandchildren. Fisher briefly played pro football with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was 59 years old at the time of his passing.

Two main events will be held on the memorial weekend at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Park in Emmitsburg. The National Fallen Firefighters Candlelight Service will be held on May 4 at 7:30 pm ET, hosted by Fire Captain Garon Mosby of the St. Louis Fire Department. The National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service is on May 5 at 10:00 am ET, and will be hosted by actor Jeremy Holm. Both events are open to the public, but will also be streamed online live for those who cannot attend in person.

Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein announces he will retire

Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein announced this morning that he will retire after 31 years of service with the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. He has served as chief for 8 of those years. Goldstein's last day will be June 30, 2023. MCFRS has been considered one of the top fire departments in the nation under his leadership.

“Chief Goldstein has given this County so much since he first started with the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department in 1987,” County Executive Marc Elrich said in a statement this morning. “We have leaned on his expertise and skills as a leader and watched the department grow under his leadership. Over the past few years, Chief Goldstein has worked with me and other County leaders to make this a smooth transition and I thank him for his service to the men and women of MCFRS and the people of this County.” 

Goldstein has accepted the Fire Chief position for Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue in Kelso, Washington and will begin serving in that post July 17. “It is my honor and pleasure to be part of this great department and to have the opportunity to serve as your fire chief,” Goldstein said in a statement.

Metrobus crashes into Jewelry Buyers in Wheaton

A Metrobus crashed into Jewelry Buyers at 2575 Ennalls Avenue in Wheaton around 9:30 AM yesterday morning, March 2, 2023. The bus drove through the storefront, and continued all the way into the store. No one was inside the store when the accident occurred, but three people were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer said. There were no passengers on the bus at the time of the accident.

According to Metro Transit Police, the bus was struck by a speeding white van whose driver allegedly made a reckless lane change. Police later charged the driver of the van with making an unsafe lane change, failing to control speed to avoid a collision, making an improper right turn, and failing to wear corrective lenses. Wild morning in the Wheaton Triangle!

Reader-submitted photo

Car crashes into house in Aspen Hill

It was a wild night in a part of Aspen Hill near the InterCounty Connector. A vehicle left the roadway in the 1400 block of Woodwell Road, climbed a steep front yard, crashed right into the front door of a home, and burst into flames just after 1:00 AM this morning. The driver was extricated by firefighters, and transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer. Two occupants of the home managed to exit without injury. @MoCoPGNews captured some dramatic video of the scene on Twitter.

Copper Canyon Grill in Silver Spring repairing fire damage to restaurant

Copper Canyon Grill at 928 Ellsworth Drive at Downtown Silver Spring remains closed after the restaurant was damaged by a fire on the morning of July 12. Sixty-five firefighters were needed on scene to extinguish the kitchen blaze, which traveled through the ductwork of the restaurant, Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer said. Heavy smoke drifted up through the roof, and the odor of smoke was detected by residents as far away as Four Corners. 

A major part of the repairs will be to the grease duct in the kitchen. As the name suggests, the grease duct vents grease-laden vapors that are flammable from kitchen equipment. They require regular maintenance to avoid buildup of grease residue that can cause fires. A sign in the restaurant window does not mention the fire as the reason for the current closure, nor an estimated timeline for reopening of the business.

Brush fire in Aspen Hill

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services is responding to a report of a brush fire in Aspen Hill. Firefighters have been sent to the scene in the 4600 block of Harlan Street, a residential street just off Aspen Hill Road.

Text-to-911 now available in Maryland

Callers in emergency situations who cannot, or do not wish to, speak on the phone now have a silent option. Text-to-911 service is now available in the state of Maryland. Residents and visitors alike can contact emergency services via text using the service.

To use Text-to-911 service, follow these steps:

1. Enter 911 in the “To” line.

2. Enter a brief message that includes the location of the emergency and type of service needed – police,              fire, or ambulance.

3. Hit send.

4. Respond to questions from the responding 911 specialist, and follow the instructions he or she provides.

Montgomery County Council passes massive developer tax cut, now wants to cut pay for cops, firefighters

The Montgomery County Council voted 7-2 yesterday to approve a massive property tax cut for developers, estimated to cost taxpayers from $400 million to upwards of a billion dollars over the next 15 years.After overturning County Executive Marc Elrich's veto of the developer tax cut, the Council is now seeking to cut hazard pay for police officers, firefighters, Ride On bus drivers and other frontline essential employees who are at high-risk of contracting Covid-19 daily during the coronavirus pandemic.

Yesterday's vote continues two disturbing trends by the Montgomery County Council: a continued shift of the tax burden from developers (who contribute to all nine councilmembers' campaigns) to workers and homeowners, and the ongoing practice by the Council of breaking labor agreements. 

While property taxes on homeowners have risen each year except 2014 (in which the average homeowner got a $12 tax cut - gee, thanks!), large developers have enjoyed tax cut after tax cut on property and impact taxes over the last decade. It started with a $72 million developer tax cut in 2010. Remember how your energy taxes were hiked, and an ambulance fee levied, around the same time to make up for that developer giveaway? Yep.

Combined with the County's failure to attract high-wage jobs or a single major corporate headquarters in over 20 years, outsize spending by Council, and the flight of the rich due to record-high tax burdens, the developer pay-days have blown an atomic bomb-size hole in the County budget. The result is a structural budget deficit as far out as the forecasts go.

So we've known by the last decade that massive residential development results in a deficit, as the costs this new housing creates for services like schools, infrastructure and social spending far outstrips the revenue it generates. 

We also know there's little demand for luxury apartments, as a large percentage of the new units delivered since 2010 are filled with airbnb hotel guests, college students and corporate contract residents, none of whom pay full-freight rent. In fact, the Council admitted there's no demand for high-rise housing atop Metro stations when introducing the new tax cut - and they're going to bust the budget and hike your taxes to build something nobody wants, just so they and their developer sugar daddies can still make a profit on it.

And we've learned that the affordable housing "crisis" isn't actually a crisis, because the Housing Opportunities Commission was able to move hundreds of people out of The Ambassador apartments into vacant units elsewhere and demolish the building, while the owners of affordable Halpine View said they have no takers for their vacant units in Rockville. Whoops! 

The shift in revenue burden has also moved from the large, international development firms that contribute to the Councilmembers' campaigns to the mom-and-pop developers who live in the community and build or expand single-family homes. Not only did the Council hit them with new regulations and tax hikes like the recordation tax, but they've recently sought to levy an all-new "teardown tax" on these small building firms. When you know that the Council's long-term goal is to change zoning to allow urban development in existing single-family-home neighborhoods, you can understand why they're trying to clear the construction field for the big guys.

But the Council isn't done spreading the unfairness around!

Now it wants to take hazard pay away from first responders and frontline employees that is in already-negotiated labor agreements. While the Council hides at home on Zoom meetings, these police officers and firefighters are responding to calls and speaking with often-unmasked citizens on a daily basis. Ride On drivers are helping similarly-essential personnel get to work, and low-income residents get to medical appointments, while exposing themselves to the virus on every shift. 

The same Council didn't even give our police officers a sufficient supply of PPE and hand sanitizer. How interesting that the same councilmembers - Hans Riemer (D - At-Large) and Andrew Friedson (D - District 1) spearheading the $1 billion tax cut for developers yesterday are also leading the charge to cut hazard pay for cops and firefighters. 

Now, even as the councilmembers' own $140,000 paychecks increase year after year, they want to again renege on labor agreements. County employees are counting on these agreements when planning the financial future of their families. The Council wants to take food off their tables during a pandemic, and turn it into cash for their campaign donors - and into future campaign checks for themselves.

It's outrageous.

Montgomery County 911 system fails again

Officials don't know how

many emergency calls went

unanswered during outage

Montgomery County's 911 system failed twice Thursday, according to the Montgomery County Police Department, which does not operate the system. An MCPD spokesperson said that County officials cannot, as of now, tell them how many urgent 911 calls went unanswered during the service interruptions, but that the department is aware of one caller in need of basic life support medical services who was affected.

Callers who dialed 911 around 8:30 AM yesterday morning - and again between 9:35 and 9:43 AM - could not get through to the 911 call center, and instead heard a message saying they number they'd reached was out of service. According to MCPD, the failure was traced to a network outage between system components.

There is no indication that the Alert Montgomery system informed citizens of either outage. Montgomery County Government has yet to post any statement regarding the outages as of this writing.

It was exactly three years ago that I broke the story of a similar 911 system failure. Later, the County tried to cover up the fact that Alert Montgomery had failed to issue alerts to subscribers until long after the outage had ended. Two people were confirmed to have died has a result of that 2016 911 system failure, 

Yet despite their failure having fatal results for two of their constituents in 2016, the County Council has clearly failed to change its ways. Here we are again, with another 911 outage three years later. Similarly, the Council failed to upgrade the public safety radio communications system for County first responders for more than a decade, deliberately kicking the can down the road to have more play money to spend on their cartel sugar daddies.

In fact, since taking the oath of office last December, the latest Council has failed to take action on a single major crisis. Not a single thing has been done to exercise oversight and update the 911 system, complete our master plan highway system, turn around our moribund economy that now ranks last in the region by every economic development benchmark, nor to address rising rates of violent crime.

Most of the current Council term has been spent on a grotesque attack on the men and women of the Montgomery County police department. The Council's continual slander, defamation and disparagement of Montgomery's finest only put our first responders and the public in greater danger. Which fits perfectly with the County Council's record of making public safety a low priority, to the point that there are actual people who have died as a result of their failure to address basic government issues like providing a functioning 911 system. It's outrageous.

Deadly Sandy Spring auto fire was no accident, MCFRS investigators say

A suspicious death in Sandy Spring is becoming more suspicious by the hour. Montgomery County police say that Maryland's chief medical examiner has declared Andrea Mion Hawvermale, 56, of the 1300 block of Excaliber Lane, died of injuries caused by a vehicle fire on that block on June 17.

However, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services investigators have determined that the vehicle fire was deliberately set. No suspect names have been announced publicly yet, and detectives continue to investigate.

Anyone with information in reference to this investigation is asked to call the Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information provided to them that leads to an arrest in this case.

Tree falls on Burtonsville house

Tree crashed into 100-year-old resident's
bedroom on E. Bexhill Drive

High winds got a quick start felling trees across Montgomery County overnight. Among the first to fall landed on a house in the 4200 block of Red Maple Court near Cedar Tree Drive in Burtonsville. No one was injured in that incident, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Pete Piringer.

One of the other early collapses was a tree at Baltimore Road and Gladstone Drive in Rockville. That one took out a Pepco transformer and power lines, causing a temporary road closure.

The very first tree to fall in the County was in Kensington, which landed on a house at 9912 E. Bexhill Drive. Tragically, there was not only significant damage to the home, but a 100-year-old resident was rushed to the hospital as a Priority 2 trauma patient. The victim was trapped in her crushed bedroom before being extricated by firefighters.

Photo by Pete Piringer

House fire in Burtonsville

Montgomery County firefighters are battling a house fire on multiple floors of a home in the 3000 block of Schubert Drive in Burtonsville. A hole has opened in one of the floors, according to scanner reports, and there is concern about animals in the home. The fire was reported at 9:33 AM this morning.

Newport Mill MS evacuated due to nearby gas leak

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services are responding to a gas leak in the 11300 block of Newport Mill Road near Newport Mill Middle School. As a precaution, they have evacuated the school. Washington Gas is en route to the scene at this time.

Arcing insulator at Wheaton Metro station

Update 9:20 AM: Firefighters are leaving the scene. MCFRS spokesperson says the incident is now an "ongoing maintenance issue" for Metro

More evidence that WMATA's "surge" repair gimmick has utterly failed: Firefighters are right now responding to an arcing insulator incident at the Wheaton Metro station, just as they have regularly along the Red Line prior to the "surge."

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesperson Pete Piringer says a WMATA emergency response team is also en route to the scene. Trains are already single-tracking between Wheaton and Forest Glen.

Manna Restaurant fire blocks traffic in Takoma Park

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue personnel responded to a fire at Manna Restaurant around 5:00 AM this morning at 8640 Flower Avenue in Takoma Park. More than 77 firefighters are on the scene of the blaze at the popular Dominican restaurant, according to MCFRS spokesperson Pete Piringer.

The intersection of Piney Branch Road and Flower Avenue is currently closed due to fire department activity. Watch for other lane closures around the scene, if you can't avoid it altogether.

Fire at Wheaton Park Beer & Wine

Firefighters responded to the Wheaton Park shopping center around 9:00 PM last night after a report of smoke coming from the Wheaton Park Beer & Wine store. An electrical fire in the walls was discovered and extinguished, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesperson Pete Piringer. No injuries were reported.

Glenmont Fire Station opens today

It's a big day in Glenmont. The first tangible result from the massive interchange project at Georgia Avenue and Randolph Road, the new Glenmont Fire Station 18, is being officially delivered this afternoon, October 26, at 1:00 PM. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett will host the ceremony. Refreshments will be served.

Parking will be available at the Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad at Georgia and Arcola Avenue; beginning at 12:30 PM, shuttles will transport attendees to the station, where there is no parking(!!).

Handicapped parking is available at the station, however, which is located at 12210 Georgia Avenue.

Man shot to death in Burtonsville last night

A man in his early twenties was shot in Burtonsville last night. Montgomery County Police and paramedics found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper body in a home in the 4500 block of Sandy Spring Road (Route 198) around 10:23 PM. He later died at a local hospital trauma center.

Police say they believe the victim knew the alleged shooter, and are investigating the incident as a homicide. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Major Crimes Division at 240.773.5070.

Firefighters responded to new gas leak 911 call at Flower Branch Apartments Sunday

Montgomery County firefighters responded to a 911 caller Sunday, August 21, who reported smelling a gas leak in an apartment building around 6:00 PM at 8674 Piney Branch Road, part of the Flower Branch Apartments complex in Silver Spring. That is the same complex where a natural gas-related explosion and fire killed 7 people just 11 days earlier, on August 10.

Based on scanner reports, Paramedic Engine 716 and Truck 716 of the Four Corners substation of the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department responded. Paramedic Engine 701 also responded from the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department.

A firefighter radioed the dispatcher a short time later, and appeared to suggest having Washington Gas come out to the site, "due to the nature of this complex." There was no confirmation via radio that any gas leak was present. No further information about the incident was relayed via radio, and all three trucks were released back into service about an hour later.

Washington Gas has not responded to an inquiry for comment submitted to a spokesperson early Monday morning as of this writing Tuesday morning.

Piney Branch Rd. fire/explosion injures civilians, FFs; mass casualty incident declared

Update 5:24 AM: 5-7 people unaccounted for in Piney Branch Road explosion and fire, according to MCFRS; search teams are using K-9s; the musical chairs regarding the shelter for displaced residents now has them at Long Branch Community Center, about 60 residents sheltering there

Update 2:55 AM: Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security deployed to Piney Branch scene, along with MCHHS and American Red Cross

Update 2:40 AM: Firefighter reports via radio that there appears to be a "gas-fed fire" in a second floor apartment on the rear side of an unspecified building at the Piney Branch scene

Update 2:32 AM: Firefighter says via radio that he sees active fire in a 1st floor apartment at 8703 Arliss Street; chief informs crews inside upper floor of that building that there may be fire below them; MCFRS cannot locate Pepco rep on scene to address electrical issues

Update 2:26 AM:  MCFRS spokesman says damage includes structural collapse of apartment building where explosion occurred, and collateral damage to nearby buildings; shelter for displaced victims now reported to have moved from Blair HS to Long Branch Public Library at 8700 Piney Branch Road, according to Dee Howard Richards of MCFRS

Update 2:20 AM:  MCFRS spokesman says about 2 dozen injured in explosion/fire, many more evaluated by EMS personnel; firefighters still asking for help from Pepco - they can still see lights on in the rear of the apartment building at 8703 Arliss Street, according to scanner reports: "We really need Pepco;" another firefighter at scene reports "at this point, there's no visible fire in 8701" Piney Branch Road; fire chief says via radio they are trying to get crews into left side of 8701

Update 1:50 AM: Firefighters still seeing blue flames at the scene, indicating gas-fed fire; one says "let it burn through the roof, and see what we've got;" Washington Gas still working to shut off gas to two other buildings; still concern that power lines could fall on firefighters: "We need Pepco back here," firefighter says; UNCONFIRMED report: Civilians victims include 29-year-old female transported to Medstar Washington Hospital Center, 6-month-old child transported to Children's Hospital

Update 1:39 AM: At least 2 firefighters injured, transported to local hospitals; one to Shady Grove Adventist, one to Walter Reed, according to scanner reports

Update 1:26 AM: Fire still active, HHS opening shelter for residents

An explosion and fire at an apartment building early this morning in the 8600 block of Piney Branch Road near Arliss Street, in the Long Branch area of Silver Spring, has been declared a mass casualty incident. There are multiple injuries to civilians and firefighters, including burns. Firefighters are still trying to locate and evacuate any remaining residents, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Pete Piringer.

The three-alarm blaze is being fed by natural gas, and the fire and explosion have caused extensive structural damage to the apartment building. According to scanner reports, Washington Gas is on-scene and "working in the front yard." Firefighters were instructed to use caution until Washington Gas can cut off gas service to the affected properties.

MCFRS has not yet publicly identified the name of the apartment complex, but have given the address as 8644/8701 Piney Branch Road.

"We're going to be re-engaging [when] the gas is out," a firefighter said at 1:16 AM via radio.

"There is no more fire, but this is an extremely unstable building," another firefighter said a minute later. However, by 1:23 AM, another firefighter reported an "active fire" at another location of the building.

According to Montgomery County Councilmember Tom Hucker, the County Department of Health and Human Services is setting up a temporary shelter for the many displaced residents of the complex at Blair High School. Hucker also says that the American Red Cross is now also assisting displaced residents.

Stay tuned for updates here, and at @SilverSprung on Twitter.

Photos via Pete Piringer/MCFRS