At 3:07 PM, today, Carroll County 911 was alerted for a building fire at Clearfield Bible Church in the 1300 block of Old Westminster Pike in Westminster.
The call was dispatched at 3:10 PM with crews from Carroll, Baltimore, Howard Counties (MD) and Pleasant Hill (York Co. PA) responding to the incident.
Upon arrival, crews found the brick church fully involved with heavy fire and smoke. DFEMS Chief Michael Robinson assumed command upon his arrival at the scene.
The fire was elevated to a 2nd alarm due to the extreme afternoon temperatures (not wanting to overwhelm the crews fighting the fire) and the need to add the tanker taskforce to bring water to the scene. (Water supply was trucked in from multiple locations in Westminster near the scene.)
A crew from Reese was evacuated from the building when the roof started to collapse. All other personnel attacked the fire from the exterior of the building including via multiple aerial units. The structure suffered a complete roof collapse as well as two exterior brick wall collapses.
Command does not believe that the building was occupied at the time of the incident. Fire was reported undercontrol at 4:35 PM.
One firefighter was transported to the hospital from the scene. Rehab and Canteen services are being provided and all remaining personnel are safe and accounted for.
At the time of this posting, Crews fropplm across the region remain on scene.
Baltimore ATF and Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal are investigating the cause of the fire.
Please see our Facebook page for more images from this incident.
Mt. Airy, Hampstead, Westminster, Manchester, Pleasant Valley, New Windsor, Union Bridge, Gamber and Winfield.
Baltimore County - Reisterstown, Glyndon, Chestnut Ridge, Franklin. Howard Co. West Friendship and York Co. PA Pleasant Hill
Maryland State Police, Carroll County Sheriff's Dept., Westminster City Police, Baltimore ATF, Maryland State Fire Marshal, BGE
