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‘More and more unusual’: Tunnels, wiring, chemicals found at Bethesda house fire site
WTOP News [Washington DC] ^ | September 26, 2017 6:01 pm | Megan Cloherty | @ClohertyWTOP

Posted on 09/27/2017 4:58:08 AM PDT by COBOL2Java


Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire rapidly, said Montgomery County Fire Battalion Chief Dan Ogren. (Courtesy Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service)


WASHINGTON — Investigators are still working to find what caused a house fire that killed a man in Bethesda earlier this month. But the investigation is far from routine after investigators found tunnels, chemicals and wiring in the basement.

“The conditions in the basement became more and more unusual as the investigation went on,” Montgomery County Fire Chief Dan Ogren said Tuesday in describing the site of the house fire on Danbury Road.

Firefighters responded at around 4:30 p.m. Sept. 10 to the house in the Maplewood neighborhood of Bethesda. They found smoke coming out of all three levels of the house.

Initially, investigators said hoarding conditions created a challenge in fighting the fire. Ogren said they discovered what he has heard described as tunnels under the home the following day.

Ogren could not go into more detail. Paul Starks, a spokesman for the Montgomery County police, called it an “excavation underneath the home.”

The tunnels or excavation did not impede the fight against the fire, but Ogren said an ignited gas line certainly did. Crews had to dig up the front yard of the home to access the line and stop the gas flow.

In addition to the tunnels, Ogren said, investigators found chemicals that could be misused, and other “equipment,” in the basement.

(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: askia; atf; basement; beckwitt; fire; khafra; prepper; tunnel; wtshtf
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1 posted on 09/27/2017 4:58:08 AM PDT by COBOL2Java
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To: COBOL2Java

Maybe this was part of the “Underground Railroad?”


2 posted on 09/27/2017 5:07:37 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob
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To: Cowboy Bob

Or a prepper.


3 posted on 09/27/2017 5:10:14 AM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: COBOL2Java
Could be nothing more than a do it your selfer with some sloppy wiring, couple of old paint and varnish cans in the basement and some old trenching around a sewer line.

Same as my house.

4 posted on 09/27/2017 5:11:14 AM PDT by caltaxed (ui)
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To: MrEdd

Or a nut job.


5 posted on 09/27/2017 5:12:03 AM PDT by MD Expat in PA
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To: COBOL2Java

They still haven’t ID’d the guy after two weeks? He wasn’t burnt to a crisp was he?


6 posted on 09/27/2017 5:13:54 AM PDT by csvset ( Illegitimi non carborundum)
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To: caltaxed
Could be nothing more than a do it your selfer with some sloppy wiring, couple of old paint and varnish cans in the basement and some old trenching around a sewer line.

Same as my house.

You got tunnels under your house? How far do they go?

7 posted on 09/27/2017 5:14:08 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (John McCain treats GOP voters like he treated his first wife)
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To: COBOL2Java

Nothing that happens in Bethesda surprises me.


8 posted on 09/27/2017 5:14:59 AM PDT by LittleSpotBlog
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To: COBOL2Java

I have a 1960s-era fallout shelter under my lawn in my back yard.

It came with the house.

For the record, I was already kooky before I even owned it.


9 posted on 09/27/2017 5:20:00 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Trump's election does not release you from your prepping responsibilites!)
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To: COBOL2Java
Only had some digging around a new sewer line that I had to hide from the building inspector. He saw non-permitted construction at the front of the house driving by and red tagged my job. It has since been repaired after documenting everything they knew about with the city building department.

The sewer line was at the front of the house and took a few hours of digging.

10 posted on 09/27/2017 5:21:57 AM PDT by caltaxed (ui)
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To: T-Bone Texan
I have a 1960s-era fallout shelter under my lawn in my back yard.

That's interesting.

11 posted on 09/27/2017 5:22:09 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: LittleSpotBlog

Bethesda was really nice when I lived there. Changed?


12 posted on 09/27/2017 5:29:08 AM PDT by SaraJohnson ( Whites must sue for racism. It's pay day.)
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To: T-Bone Texan
I have a 1960s-era fallout shelter under my lawn in my back yard.

It came with the house.

For the record, I was already kooky before I even owned it.

That is very cool. Considering what they're reporting about this guy, I would wonder whether *his* tunneling was up to code. Local news reports are describing the homeowner as someone a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

13 posted on 09/27/2017 5:34:58 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (John McCain treats GOP voters like he treated his first wife)
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To: caltaxed

This is Bethesda, the area in/around that funny triangle of the DC beltway and the I270 split.

I am quite sure they have public utilities of every kind to the house.

And being close to DC, and actually being liberal haven Montgomery County where we must “welcome” everyone, it’s probably either a drug lord (illegals) or Moslem bomb plant (esp. with wiring).


14 posted on 09/27/2017 5:39:00 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

The eastern part of Montgomery county is an alien world. How can 3rd worlders afford to live there when the average house costs 400K and taxes are $800.00/mo?


15 posted on 09/27/2017 5:43:43 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: csvset

“In the death investigation, the police are waiting on information from the medical examiner to identify the man who died, Starks said. Meanwhile, Ogren said the wiring and some other items are being tested at the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lab to aid in determining the cause and ignition source.”

Yeah, this is suspicious. Strange when the “friend” who survived does not straight up identify him?

These guys were up to no good, no matter which kind of illegal they might have been. Wires? I’d suspect more likely Moslem.


16 posted on 09/27/2017 5:45:19 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue./Federal-run medical care is as good as state-run DMVs.)
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To: T-Bone Texan
'For the record, I was already kooky before I even owned it."

Great. I've always wanted one.

17 posted on 09/27/2017 5:46:23 AM PDT by blam
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To: COBOL2Java

By any chance was the guy who lived there looking into the Clinton Foundation?


18 posted on 09/27/2017 5:59:24 AM PDT by browniexyz
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To: the OlLine Rebel

They make a federal case out of any building infraction here and it takes years for anything to get approved, especially gas and electrical. It took over a year and $12K to move my gas line a couple of feet.


19 posted on 09/27/2017 6:01:46 AM PDT by caltaxed (ui)
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To: COBOL2Java
What is the 31-year old resident, the survivor, doing in this location, which is just north of Bethesda Hospital and near the Metro Station? More questions than answers.    More on the odd fire event:
Montgomery County Fire Battalion Chief Dan Ogren said responders found one man who had escaped from the home.

“He indicated that his friend was still in the house. Crews made entry into the house. They were able to extinguish the fire relatively rapidly, and they located the missing individual in the basement of the home. Unfortunately, the individual was deceased at the time,” Ogren told reporters down the street from the home.

The identities of the victims of the fire are not available. Ogren told reporters that the man who escaped the fire is 31-years-old.

http://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2017/09/one-dead-another-hospitalized-after-bethesda-house-fire/slide/2/

20 posted on 09/27/2017 6:21:27 AM PDT by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)
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