Quick response minimizes fire

April 30, 2001

Quick response minimizes fire

By ANDREA BROWN-HURLEY

BOONSBORO - A Boonsboro fire that took two minutes to extinguish kept a restaurant closed for more than four hours Saturday as firefighters waited for a fire marshal to arrive.

Fire broke out in an office above Heather B's Pub at 1 N. Main Street just before noon, said Troy Lloyd, deputy chief of the First Hose Co. of Boonsboro.

Boonsboro firefighter Richard Brown used 200 gallons of water to put the fire out within two minutes, preventing the small blaze from spreading to the apartments in the rear of the building, Lloyd said.

"The fire department was incredible," restaurant owner Beth Lowery said.

Though the fire destroyed everything in her office, Brown's quick response kept the damage from spreading, Lowery said.

Firefighters from Sharpsburg, Fairplay and Middletown, Md., and support workers from the Washington County Emergency Air Unit and the county Emergency Rehab Unit were also on the scene, Lloyd said.

He said restaurant employees hoped to open for business soon after the fire was quashed, but firefighters had to wait for a fire marshal to arrive from Deep Creek Lake in Allegany County, Md. After a 145-mile drive to the scene, the fire marshal arrived about 2:30 p.m.

Delays of up to four hours are common when fires occur in south Washington County because there is a serious shortage of fire marshals, Lloyd said.

He urged local residents to contact their legislators about the problem. Lowery said she will do everything she can to help the fire department.

The cause of the fire remained unknown late Saturday, Lloyd said.

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