


Halfway Responds to Garage Fire On Virginia Ave
January 14, 2022
Firefighters Conduct Quick Knock On Garage Fire In Halfway
On Friday January 14th, Washington County had reports of a fire in the garage at S&S Auto Repair at 17126 Virginia Ave. Halfway crews were alerted on Box 26-2 at 14:15 hours along with additional units from Williamsport, Hagerstown, and Funkstown. Deputy Chief 26 “Jamie Drawbaugh” was approaching the area as units were dispatched observing smoke coming from the garage. Chief Drawbaugh arrived with a 1 ½ story garage with heavy black smoke coming from both bays of the garage and burning debris outside of the garage. Chief Drawbaugh reported he had a working fire and requested the Safety Assignment and Fire Marshal started on the call.
Halfway Engine 261 arrived and deployed an attack line to side Alpha to the front garage bay doors for fire attack. Upon Williamsport’s arrival, Deputy Chief 2 “Michael Nokes” was assigned fire attack supervisor as crews made entry and began their fire attack. Crews were able to make a quick knock on the blaze bringing the fire under control within minutes of their arrival. Firefighters were able to check around the garage and office areas above the bays in the loft area for extension finding none.
Firefighter’s quick actions kept damages to a minimum that Friday. Between the stack of tires found on side Charlie of the structure and the amount of chemicals stored in the building, the scenario could have been a lot worse. Maryland State Fire Marshals did respond in to investigate the cause of the fire while Maryland Department of Environment was contacted about the chemical run-off from the incident. No injuries were reported and Fire Department operations were able to be wrapped up by 15:00 hrs at which time Chief Drawbaugh terminated Command and units began clearing the scene.
52 Emergency Responders responded to Friday’s incident. Halfway responded with Engine 261, Tower 26, and Medics 267 and 268. Additional assistance was received by Hagerstown’s South End Engine 5, First Hagerstown Hose Engine 1, Hagerstown Battalion Chief Adam Hopkins, Funkstown Fire Co. 10, Williamsport Fire & EMS Co.2, Community Rescue Co.75, Maugansville Fire Co.13, Long Meadow Fire Co.27, Washington County Division of Emergency Services Management Staff, DES EMS 1811, Washington County Volunteer Fire & Rescue Safety Officer 202, Washington County Emergency Support Services Air & Rehab, Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, and Washington County Fire Police.
Published @ 1strespondernews.com
Photos Courtesy of WCVFRA Photographer Brenda Sterling



