Broadlands Fire Ruled Accidental

Update: Fire ruled accidental. New information in italics.

No one was hurt in the Thornblade Circle house fire Friday afternoon in Broadlands, but one of the family dogs did not survive the blaze while another was in critical condition at a local animal hospital Friday night.

[The injured dog passed on the evening of the fire].

The neighborhood boy who called 911 about the fire rescued the family's third dog before fire and rescue personnel arrived.

Michael Fedyk, a teenager who lives on the block said Joey Potter told him the house may be on fire and asked Fedyk to check before the Joey called 911. Fedyk said the other boy explained he had knocked on the door, but no one was home, and that he heard dogs barking.

Fedyk then went to the house.

“The back door was completely on fire,” Fedyk said. “I ran to the front door and knocked. The door was unlocked, so I opened it. I went in the house and a few feet down the hallway to the closet door, but there was a lot of smoke. I yelled, ‘Here, boy,’ and the dog came running. I turned and got the dog out of the house.”

Fedyk then called 911. It’s unclear whether his was the first call to 911.  Fire and rescue reported they received the first called at 4:17 p.m.

“The 911 person told me to stay back from the house and flag down the fire trucks,” he said. “By the time they got there, the whole back of the house was on fire.”

A neighbor said several families moved into the community around the same time, in August 2008. One neighbor took the owner of the home into their house when she arrived to console her.

Battalion Chief James S. Williams said the first crews arrived about four minutes after the first call to 911.

"Upon arrival there were heavy fire conditions with flames up the back of the house and through the roof," Williams explained during a brief interview on the scene.

The chief said no one was in the home when it started, and confirmed Fedyk’s account about the dogs. Rescue personnel tended to the injured dog upon arrival.

"They administered oxygen using a special mask we carry made for smaller animals. It was donated to the fire department,” William said, adding that the dog was in critical condition with a local vet.

The remains of a third dog, which apparently died of smoke inhalation, were found after the fire came under control, Williams said.

At about 4:30 p.m., a dark plume of smoke wafted upward from the home, easily spotted from the surrounding area. Flames were shooting from the roof and ladder trucks were on the scene attempting to douse them.

It took about 30 minutes for firefighters to bring the fire under control, by which time the first and second floors of the single-family home were severely damaged, Williams said. Vinyl siding on the house directly next door was damaged from the radiant heat of the blaze. In addition, embers blowing in the wind ignited small fires in the wooded area adjacent to the home.

Williams said five fire stations reported to the one-alarm conflagration, including Ashburn, Moorefield Station, Lansdowne, Arcola and Dulles South.

By 6 p.m., the fire marshal was conducting a routine investigation, and fire and rescue personnel led the owners into the home to retrieve personal belongings from the safer areas.

The Loudoun Fire Marshal ruled the fire accidental, according to a Feb. 23 press release from Loudoun Fire and Rescue. Discarded smoking materials left on the back deck are believed to have been the cause.

The incident resulted in approximately $480,000 damage to the home, as well as $20,000 to a neighboring home.