CATONSVILLE, Md. — Firefighters pulled a victim from a house fire in Catonsville on Tuesday.
Baltimore County Fire received multiple calls at 1:50 p.m. for the fire in the 400 block of Lambeth Road.
Units arrived at the scene just four minutes later and found smoke coming from the home.
Firefighters asked for an additional rescue assignment after they learned a resident was unaccounted for.
The victim, a 70-year-old woman, was found on the second floor in cardiac arrest.
She was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The home was destroyed and the family next door was displaced because firefighters had to break into the roof to fight the fire, which was placed under control at 2:57 p.m.
According to the Baltimore County Professional Firefighters Association, one fire engine was placed out of service at 11:00 a.m. this morning due to staffing and overtime issues.
RELATED: Union: Baltimore Co. Fire putting engines out of service due to overtime issues
They continue noting their disagreement with rotating fire engine closure saying:
"No fire engines should be placed out of service for overtime issues. This practice does impact firefighters' safety and directly impacts the safety of Baltimore County residents!"
Baltimore County Fire Chief Joanne Rund also came out with a statement on the matter.
"The safety of our residents and first responders remains our top priority. To be clear, the department’s response to this incident was immediate, and operational deployments did not impact the response time of first responders in this incident. The department will continue to provide the level of service that both the County and our residents expect and deserve.”
