Smoke Detector

Faulty wiring for a porch light caused a fire that destroyed a house on Wagaman Road south of Hagerstown on Friday, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's office reported. Fire officials said a working smoke detector saved the family from the fire in their two-story house at 18604 Wagaman Road. Robert Pike, his wife, Shelly, and their 13-year-old daughter, Whitney, escaped from the burning house after Pike was awakened by a smoke detector at about 1:20 a.m. "The fire grew very rapidly," said Funkstown Fire Chief John Gift.

Editor's note: This column first was published July 14, 1997. I always knew that firefighters were brave, yet I never knew how brave. Never knew, that is, until a couple of them burst into my house last week and put up a smoke detector. Here's the background. I'd just returned home from the gym and was completely drenched. And not drenched in Kool-Aid, I might add. The house was a wreck and I was mean and grumpy and had just decided to either wash the dishes or throw them out the window a la Lisa Douglas on Green Acres.

Clothes piled near a bathroom electric heater caught fire Monday at an apartment at 208 East Ave., a fire official said. Hagerstown Fire Department Battalion Chief Randy Myers said a man was asleep at the apartment, but a woman came home and woke him because a smoke detector was going off. Emergency officials identified the tenant as Isaiah Burker. Community Rescue Service took Burker to Washington County Hospital, where he was treated and released. Myers said Burker suffered smoke inhalation.

A fire ignited beneath a fireplace at a house in Hagerstown early Friday, causing severe damage to the basement and first-floor living room, firefighters said. The fire broke out at about 12:30 a.m. at 915 Oak Hill Ave., said Hagerstown Fire Department Capt. Kyd Dieterich. Dieterich said firefighters believe the fire began when ashes and debris from the fireplace ignited in the ash pan. The fire caused heavy damage to the basement and then climbed the walls into the first floor, he said.

CLEAR SPRING - A fire caused by a failed microwave oven forced a St. Paul Road family to stay elsewhere Tuesday night. "I heard an explosion," said Joyce Krause, of 14646 St. Paul Road. "I heard my little girl holler the kitchen was on fire. " Krause, her 4-year-old daughter, and her 21-month-old grandson made it safely out of the house, she said. "I'm just thankful they got out," said Krause's husband, Michael. Krause said he'd never heard of a microwave oven failing and causing a fire.

shappell@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - After 40 years without a problem at their home, the DeBows came within seconds of losing it to a fire, a Hagerstown fire official said. However, the couple was awakened by a smoke detector and was able to douse a basement fire before it spread throughout the house. On Aug. 23, Robert "Bud" and Greta "Bunny" DeBow woke up at 4:15 a.m. to the sound of a smoke detector and found smoke rising from the basement of their Salem Avenue home, where they have lived for 40 years.

Clear Spring Town Councilman Theodore Hovermale said he and his wife were sleeping in their Cumberland Street home when a beeping noise awoke them Monday morning. Theodore Hovermale said his wife, Carol, also a member of the town council, thought the beeping sound was coming from the phone in their bedroom, so she lifted the receiver and put it back down. When the noise persisted, she got up to see what was happening. "The smoke detector was doing its job," Theodore Hovermale said.

A Hagerstown resident's losses in a fire Thursday included a large crystal collection, her dog and mementos of her late husband, a friend said. Teresa Boward and her 15-year-old daughter are staying with an aunt in Hagerstown following the fire at 134 N. Locust St. about noon Thursday, which heavily damaged half of a duplex she owned and lived in. Boward lost all her belongings in the fire and is in need of food such as spices and flour, said...

The day after Matthew Paul turned 2 years old he lost everything, including his birthday presents, in a Sunday night fire that Hagerstown Fire Marshal John Hersh believes was deliberately set. cont. from front page Hersh said he is ruling the fire at 207 Buena Vista Ave. as suspicious in origin. No family members were home when the fire broke out about 5:08 p.m. Sunday. The fire destroyed Matthew Paul's room but some rooms, including the kitchen, suffered only smoke damage, said Melanie Paul, who works as a security guard at Mack Trucks.

Firefighters contain kitchen fire MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Baker Heights Volunteer Fire Co. firefighters were able to contain a fire to the kitchen of a mobile home Friday morning, but there was extensive smoke and heat damage to the structure. The fire occurred at about 6:30 a.m. on Caplinger Drive and took about 10 minutes to bring under control, Deputy Fire Chief Tim Sprouse said. A man living in the mobile home was cooking breakfast and left it unattended, Sprouse said.

A Hagerstown fire marshal credited working smoke detectors with alerting eight people to a fire early Friday morning in a house on Mitchell Avenue. One person, a 43-year-old man who was in the basement where the fire apparently started, was taken to Meritus Medical Center in serious condition with "complications due to an existing medical condition," according to a city news release. The man's condition apparently was aggravated by smoke inhalation from the blaze, Hagerstown Fire Chief Kyd Dieterich said.

Clear Spring Town Councilman Theodore Hovermale said he and his wife were sleeping in their Cumberland Street home when a beeping noise awoke them Monday morning. Theodore Hovermale said his wife, Carol, also a member of the town council, thought the beeping sound was coming from the phone in their bedroom, so she lifted the receiver and put it back down. When the noise persisted, she got up to see what was happening. "The smoke detector was doing its job," Theodore Hovermale said.

Hagerstown fire officials said working smoke detectors are why a 7-year-old boy wasn't injured more seriously Thursday morning when a fire started in a bedroom of his West End apartment. “I think smoke detectors did their job and prevented a tragedy,” Hagerstown Fire Chief W. Kyd Dieterich said. Dieterich said three people were home when the fire started shortly after 6 a.m. at 838 W. Washington St. He said the family was able to get out of the building without suffering serious injury.

The home in which a 4-year-old boy died Monday night was equipped with smoke detectors, Chambersburg's emergency services director said. However, the detector had been removed from the room in which the fire started, Chambersburg Emergency Services Chief William FitzGerald said. "It's a shame at the end of fire prevention week that something like this has to happen and drive home what we try to preach daily about smoke detectors and home sprinkler systems," FitzGerald said. In April, the borough of Chambersburg launched a smoke detector program, through grant funding, allowing the fire department to install more than 400 smoke detectors this year, according to FitzGerald.

HAGERSTOWN -- The owner of Rocky's Pizza Palace was named in a lawsuit filed March 11 in Washington County Circuit Court by an insurance company asking for $88,123.05 it paid out following an Aug. 31, 2008, fire at the pizzeria on Hagerstown's Public Square. Frederick Mutual Insurance Co., the insurer for One North Potomac Street LLC, which owned the property, alleged in the suit that the fire "originated from and/or as a result of the defendant's negligent cooking and/or supervision at the Insured Property.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - In recognition of National Fire Prevention Week, Martinsburg's city Fire Marshal G. Edgar Gochenour is urging residents to make sure they have at least one working smoke detector in their homes and to be cautious when using kitchen appliances. "The single leading cause for all house fires is cooking fires, usually as a result of unattended cooking," Gochenour said in a news release. "If you are frying, grilling or broiling, you should never leave the kitchen before turning off the stove.

HAGERSTOWN -- A Sunday morning fire gutted Rocky's University New York Pizza on the Public Square, forcing the shop to close indefinitely and inspiring a push by the community to raise money for repairs. The fire, which was reported at 5:40 a.m., damaged the pizzeria's equipment, wiring, plumbing, flooring, ceiling and air-conditioning system, owner Vinnie DiCola said Sunday. He estimated the fire caused about $150,000 in damage. "The whole pizza shop is shot," DiCola said.

Hagerstown Fire Department on-duty personnel, volunteers from the Antietam Fire Company and six Lowe's employees went through several South End neighborhoods Wednesday night, checking and, in some cases, replacing smoke detectors in several homes. "We were on Guilford, Summit and Surrey avenues Wednesday night," said Michael Weller, fire department educator. Since May 1, more than 600 homes have been surveyed, and 325 extended-life smoke alarms, which last 10 years, were installed, Weller said.

The Hagerstown Fire Department will install a free smoke alarm for any city resident who requests one. The alarms run on lithium batteries, which last 10 years. Since January 2007, the department has installed 1,250 lithium-battery smoke alarms in 600 homes in Hagerstown, said Mike Weller, Hagerstown fire prevention coordinator. Everyone should have a working smoke alarm that is less than 10 years old on every level of their home, Weller said. For those who do not live within Hagerstown's city limits, but would like to install lithium-battery smoke alarms, most major retail outlets sell them, Weller said.