MIDDLE RIVER, Md. — Images from behind the townhomes on Decatur Road in Middle River show a virtual inferno on Saturday morning.
“When I came out, this is just nothing, but a wall of flame, and we came running out,” said Sam Young, “My car was right here at the time and everybody moved their cars, but they had all this loud, popping noise here. In fact, the guy in charge of the fire department said he wanted all of his men to back off, because they didn’t know what was popping.”
48 hours later, investigators would determine an attempt to charge e-bikes with their lithium-ion batteries had sparked the fire, but as it spread, victims awakened from their sleep by the noise initially thought it was just a thunderstorm.
“I opened the shade and looked up on the right had side and I saw the fire coming towards us, and I said, ‘Oh, my God. That’s a fire,’” said Chanthoune Sinphavong, “So I couldn’t do anything. I hurried up and opened the door and told all of my family, because they were asleep, I knocked at their door and said, ‘We have to get out of here, because there’s a fire.’”
Neighbors say one female victim suffered injuries after jumping out of an upper floor window.
“Third story from what I understand. That’s pretty high up there,” said Young, “He said she’s got quite a few broken bones. Quite a few.”
The last of fourteen people to escape from the fire’s path before firefighters arrived on the scene.
“It was nothing, but God that got both families out safely,” said one of the victims’ friends who arrived to help them on the scene, “Although there’s material damage, we’re happy that no one was lost in this tragedy.”
