On Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at approximately 2:34 p.m., firefighters from Bay District, NAS Patuxent River, Second District and Hollywood responded to the area of Franklin Road in Lexington Park, for the reported shed on fire.
Shortly after dispatch, the St. Mary’s County 911 center advised to all responding units they were receiving multiple calls reporting the fire had spread to the house.
Firefighters from Bay District and NAS Patuxent River arrived on the scene in just 2 minutes to find a two-story residence with fire showing from the rear of the house.
Crews entered the backyard to find a shed fully engulfed in flames which had extended into the residence.
Firefighters stretched multiple attack lines and began extinguishing the shed fire, while making entry into the residence to check for further extensions and performed multiple searches of the entire residence.
Three dogs were removed from the house without injury, along with all occupants being accounted for and having escaped prior to the arrival of fire department. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
The fire was extinguished in under 15 minutes with firefighters operating on the scene for over an hour.
The American Red Cross was requested to assist the three adults and three dogs. The Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal was contacted and after talking to incident command, it was determined the fire was accidental and caused by a Lithium-Ion Battery which was in the shed. The batteries were reported by the homeowner as being unplugged and not charging, or used today.
After talking to incident command, all Lithium-Ion Batteries located in the shed affected by the fire were requested to be isolated away from the structure in a bucket of water until the Maryland Department of the Environment could come retrieve them to dispose of them properly.
Just one year ago, our volunteers responded to a structure fire after a charging Lithium-Ion Battery started a fire in a California residence.
