A Montgomery County police officer is being credited for potentially saving the lives of several residents during an early-morning house fire in Clarksburg, Maryland.
Officer John Roark was the first one to arrive to the scene of the blaze in the 23100 block of Persimmon Ridge Road about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
Two adults and two children had already escaped the large 2-story house where the fire started, but the flames were growing and Roark saw that both homes on either side were in danger.
He said he quickly alerted those residents.
"It was disbelief. You know, here's a police officer knocking at the door at 2:30, 2:45 in the morning saying 'Your neighbor's house is on fire. You're in danger. You need to get out.' A lot of confusion. A lot of disbelief, especially once they got across the street and were able to see what was going on," Roark said.
Nooshin Amirpour said she, her husband and her brother were asleep when officer Roark knocked on their door. She credits the officer with potentially saving their lives.
"I said 'Thank you. Great job and much appreciated.' I think that these guys saved lives, especially the house nextdoor," Amirpour said.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Seventy-five firefighters responded to the house fire and the intense heat melted the siding of Amirpour's home and the other home nextdoor.
A Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman said the fire was caused by "improperly discarded smoking material" on the deck or porch. There is more than $700,000 in damage, including the heat damage to the other two homes.
The family that lived in the house where the fire started had just moved in a few weeks ago and neighbors said they are collecting money and other donations to help them. They have two school-aged children.
"We're just trying to help them with clothing and toys for the kids. One of the sad things was it was the little girl's birthday just a few weeks ago, so she was sad she lost all of her birthday toys, but obviously the parents have much bigger problems than that," said neighbor Jennifer Dye.
A GoFundMe page for the family has raised more than $1,700 so far.
