Community Corner

Ducketts Lane Fire Spreads to 5 Townhomes (Update)

Three families were displaced in the Elkridge fire.

(Update 9 a.m.)

According to an update from the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, three families were displaced from their homes. Also, one person was taken to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation; three people declined to go to the hospital.

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Original article

Several families have been displaced after several townhomes were seriously damaged in an early morning fire on Ducketts Lane, according to a Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services (HCDFRS) spokesperson.

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A 911 call came in at about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday for a fire on the 6900 block of Ducketts Lane, according to HCDFRS spokesman Marc Fischer. 

When crews arrived on the scene, they found a middle townhouse on fire. The fire was upgraded to two-alarm status and firefighters from Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties were called in to help Howard.

Investigators believe the fire began in the back deck or the kitchen of one of the townhomes, then climbed up the back of the house, through the attic. According to the @HCDFRS Twitter feed, bystanders said the fire began on the deck.

Fischer said investigators think the fire spread to the adjacent townhomes from the roof.

Five townhouses were so badly damaged that they will likely be declared uninhabitable by authorities, Fischer said; investigators don’t yet know if the fifth house will be strucrurally sound enough for its owners to safely return.

Beyond being displaced, three people were treated on the scene and then taken to a local hospital for smoke inhalation, according to Fischer, and HCDFRS contacted the Red Cross to help the displaced families.

In all, 60 firefighters from three counties fought the fire, which remains under investigation. 


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