St. Leonard, MD – A fully involved house fire early Saturday morning on Delight Court in St. Leonard forced firefighters into an immediate defensive operation and required a massive water-shuttle operation that pulled nearly every tanker in Calvert County to the scene.
First-arriving units from St. Leonard Volunteer Fire & Rescue (Company 7) reported heavy fire showing from all sides of the two-story single-family home shortly after being dispatched at approximately 5:50AM. With the structure already too far gone for interior operations, command immediately transitioned to a defensive attack.
Assistant Chief Vanessa DeVries assumed Incident Command operations, Safety Officer Marc Richman was assigned as the Team Leader for the Attack group and FF Jack Green was initially assigned to assist Captain Bill Terry with Operations of Engine 71. Tanker 7, operated by FF Billy Cunningham, and Rehab 7, staffed by EMT K. Flynt and Tony Curtis were among the first specialty units on scene.

Due to the rural location and lack of hydrants, a large-scale water supply operation was established using the Jefferson Patterson Park (JPP) fill site. Engine 61 served as the draft site engine for the operation. A working fire dispatch brought nearly every available tanker in Calvert County to the scene along with St. Mary’s Tanker 74 for mutual aid. St. Mary’s Engine 71 was at the fill site at JPP. Chief 6B (Huntingtown VFD) assumed the Water Supply Operation Command.

During the incident, crews flowed an estimated 50,000 gallons of water thru various units on scene ultimately to Engine 71 from multiple attack and supply lines. Tower 2 (Prince Frederick VFD) and Tower 9 (Bay District VFD) assisted as the special service operations units.
Calvert County Fire Chief Ricky Weems II responded to the scene to oversee the incident.

The homeowners and their dog were able to escape unharmed through the basement after the primary exit at the front door became fully blocked by fire. Assistant Fire Chief DeVries said, “All homeowners should have two means of escape and thankfully this family had just that.” Chief Weems stated that as of the morning of the incident, “…no injuries were reported by the homeowners or firefighters on scene”.

The fire is believed to have originated from the chimney area, though the exact cause remains under investigation. With this in mind, colder weather is approaching and you should have your chimney inspected and properly cleaned by a certified and licensed professional.

St. Leonard Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company 7 thanks all responding Companies for their rapid and professional response, noting the incident demonstrated the critical importance of the county-wide Tanker Task Force in protecting rural communities without hydrants.