Eight escape townhouse fire on New Britain Circle

Fire & Rescue units were dispatched to the 9000 block of New Britain Circle in the city of Manassas for an appliance fire shortly before midnight on Monday, Oct. 1, according to Patty Prince, communications coordinator for the city government.

Units arrived on the scene to a middle of the row townhouse with heavy fire on the first floor.  Seven adults and one child were able to evacuate the fire before rescue units arrived.  Crews from the City of Manassas, Prince William County and Manassas Park worked to suppress the fire, which was brought under control within 20 minutes, according to Prince.

One resident was treated by Emergency Services personnel and transported to Prince William Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Two other occupants were evaluated, but refused transport to the hospital.

Emergency personnel found two smoke alarms in the residence.  One smoke detector appeared to be inoperable prior to the fire. Officials could not determine whether the other detector was operational as it was destroyed in the fire, according to Prince
s news release.One of the occupants detected the fire and notified the other occupants.  None of the occupants could recall if a smoke detector was sounding at the time of the fire.

Manassas Fire & Rescue Department Chief Brett Bowman was quoted in the news release as saying, “When there is a fire, smoke spreads fast and you need smoke alarms to give you time to get out.  With next week being fire prevention week, I’d like to remind residents to develop and practice a home fire escape plan which includes having two ways to get out of your home.”

The townhouse had significant fire and smoke damage on the first and second floors with nominal water and smoke damage in the basement.  The fire was contained to the one townhome with no damage to the neighboring townhouses. The fire was determined to be accidental and was started when a pot of water that was being heated on the stove was left unattended. The original fire damage estimate is $150,000 to the townhome, according to the news release.

The Manassas City Police Department was on scene to assist with crowd and traffic control.  The Red Cross was requested to assist the displaced residents.  City of Manassas Electric and Columbia Gas representatives were called to the scene to assist with the utilities. For a free smoke alarm, contact the City of Manassas Fire & Rescue Department at 703-257-8458.