On Monday, September 24, 2018, thebaynet.com reported the following:
“Sept. 24, approximately 8:00 p.m., crews responded to reports of a house fire in the area of the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department.
Initial reports from scanner activity suggest that an occupant may have been trapped while crews were responding however no injuries have been reported at this time. At approximately 8:20 a.m., reports said the fire was under control.
A full report from the Office of the State Fire Marshal is pending. “
Southern Maryland News Net received several emails, Facebook messages, text messages and phone calls asking us why we were not reporting the fire. We did not report it because there was no house fire, it was a training exercise held by the Leonardtown Volunteer Fire Department. Most fire departments in St. Mary’s County have their weekly training drills on Monday nights.
At first we were not going to address this inaccurate news story, but after being contacted by numerous members of the public and firefighter community who told us we had to address this issue that happens time and time again, we decided to report the facts.
The article was still online at 10:25 a.m., Tuesday, September 25, 2018.
