Riverdale's Fire Dept. Helped in Weekend Fires

Strong winds allowed for a number of fires to break out all over the metro area Saturday, when brush caught fire and then spread to nearby homes.  so every firefighter in Prince George's County was asked to report to duty, something that hasn't happened since Sept. 11, 2001.

Riverdale Fire Chief Charles Ryan said although the day started off normally, firefighters in his company began reporting to fires around 11:26 a.m. when they responded to a call for a Haz Mat box at 5402 Van Dusen Rd. in Laurel. When they arrived, however, they were redirected to the l. Ryan said the crew worked on of the brush fire for nine hours.

At around 1:56 p.m., another enine was dispatched to 14700 Baltimore Avenue where a fire broke out at the Burlington Coat Factory in Laurel. Ryan reported that they remained on scene there for about 3.5 hours.

County Firefighters were then dispatched to a fire at 5103 Decatur St. in Hyattsville around 4:20 p.m. when there was a reported fire. On scene, however, they saw two house on fire and a Riverdale unit arrived on scene and worked until 6 p.m.

Later they were called back out to the scene of the brush fire in Laurel to help until 4 a.m.

Ryan reported the county had about 1,000 calls for the day and four Riverdale crew worked to help with the fires Saturday.