Commercial Building Fire at
Bennigan's Restaurant

July 11, 2003 2112hrs:

At 2112 hrs Waldorf was dispatched to #35 St. Patrick's Dr. at the Bennigans Restaurant for the commercial building fire, reported smoke coming from the roof. Engine 121 arrived on the scene seconds later, coming from Mall Circle. Engine 32 under Capt. Ryan Pagel's command picked up Engine 121's layout at the plug and advanced their 400ft 1-¾ attack line into the building and assisted in the evacuation of the building. Chief 3B (D.J. Mills) arrived seconds later and established the St. Patricks command. Engine 121's crew under Sgt. John Stewart's command took a position on side 4 and advanced a line too the rear and threw a ladder to the roof to check for fire. Upon their investigation they found an arcing wire that had fallen on the roof and started a small smoldering fire in the void space of the roof. Once power had been secured to the arcing wire they quickly put a knock on it with a dry chemical extinguisher. Truck 1 arrived on the scene and laddered the roof. Their roof team went up to assist ENG-121's crew with checking for extension. Upon further investigation of the small burn area on the roof, Truck 1's officer (Capt. Doug Hutchins) deemed it necessary to cut an observation hole in the roof to make sure it did not extend any further than the point of origin. The rest of Truck 1's crew assisted ENG-32 with checking for extension under where the roof/wall truss had been discovered to have been charred. After opening the area extensively, it was determined that the fire had not extended past the point of where it had originated. The charred areas of the wood truss were soaked and command was terminated at 2210 hrs.

Units responding: Waldorf ENG-32, U-3 (Chief 3B), ENG-121, AMB-38, (La Plata) TRK-1, (Bryans Road) ENG-112, PGFD ENG-363 (Baden), TWR-24 (Accokeek), RS-40 (Brandywine).