Posted on 12/06/2004 5:00:16 AM PST by CJinVA
Fires Engulf Multiple Homes in Charles County Updated: Monday, Dec. 6, 2004 - 7:42 AM
INDIAN HEAD, Md. - Firefighters in Charles County are working to contain at least fires at 11 or 12 homes in a new development.
Charles County officials confirm that all the homes on fire in a neighborhood near Indian Head were under construction and weren't occupied.
County government spokeswoman Nina Voehl says the four-alarm blaze was first reported just before 5 a.m. at the Hunters Brooke subdivision off of Route 225.
The fires are on Hunters Brooke Drive off Hawthorne Road and are scattered throughout the development.
Prince George's and St. Mary's county firefighters are assisting. There are no reports of injuries.
There's no word on the cause of the fires. Washington Gas tells WTOP it has not been called to the scene.
Former Indian Head Mayor Warren Bowie calls the fires "a shame" and says 300 homes were to be built in hte subdivision, which has been controversial.
Harry Phillips tells Channel 9 he lives behind the development and has been watching the fire through the woods since about 4:30 a.m. and worries it will spread.
The fire is not far from Araby Bog, an area some in Charles County have been trying to preserve, Phillips says.
The Sierra Club gave Hunters Brooke and a neighboring development, Falcon Ridge, a thumbs down on its 2000 Sprawl report, saying the "project will destroy a forest adjacent to state-preserved wildlands and severely degrade one of Maryland's largest magnolia bogs." Magnolia bogs are rare.
Sounds like ELF MO
Click on the "More Chopper4 Images Slide Show"
http://www.nbc4.com/news/3973019/detail.html#
Quite possible.
While I'm sorry that this sounds like eco-terrorism, it's a shame that my county is being ripped up like this. Southern Maryland is a beautiful part of the state and very close to DC. I grew up there and I enjoyed seeing lots of woodland, driving along the county roads. Now, it's being cut down to make room for mcmansions.
Or a pissed off contractor/crew that got screwed on payment.
Sounds like it to me
Sierra Club objects and the ELF idiots act. Time to post guards. I cannot believe they did not have them on a project like this. This freaky ELF gang needs to be met with force. Maybe they will then realize they cannot
use terrorism to scare others? Car dealerships, entire condo projects and single homes under construction across the USA are targets.
The feds offer rewards ($25-50K) for the capture of ELF terrorists.
I grew up there, too, and it has changed for the worse. The earlier developments are little better than slums, now. If it were not for relatives, I probably wouldn't go back, even though the family has a long history there.
The Watermelons...
The fires broke out shortly before 5 a.m., in the Hunters Brook neighborhood, which is in the Mason Springs section of Charles County. And authorities say firefighters continue to battle hot spots in some of the homes.
Charles County spokeswoman Nina Voehl said, "A number of houses have been burned by fire. It's sporadic, they're not in a line, there's one here, one there."
She also said one of the houses burned was occupied, but there have been no injuries.
All the homes that burned were under construction and ranged in price from $400,000 to $500,000, said W. Faron Taylor, a deputy state fire marshal.
News4 showed pictures of the fires from Chopper4. Reporters were not allowed access to the fire ground. Charles County sheriff's deputies are calling it a crime scene.
Oh well, I guess if you liked looking at the woods that means that no one has a right to live there.
Jewish Lightning?
I wonder what gave them the first clue?
That's not what I'm saying. I was just being nostalgic for the old days when there were plenty woods and little development. People can live wherever they can afford to live.
Actually, compared to the widespread development across the river in N. Virginia, Chuck County has done a reasonable job of containing dense subdivisions to the northern tier above White Plains and along Route 210, leading to Indian Head.
In my part of the woods, south of La Plata, it's still as pristine as you remember it.
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