On Sunday, March 23, 2025, at 8:32 a.m., firefighters from Bay District, Leonardtown, and Hollywood were dispatched to the Salem State Forest located at 22343 Indian Bridge Road in California, for the reported large woods fire.
The 911 call came from couple who drove to the State Forest for their morning walk, a short time after they arrived, they located a large woods fire which was actively spreading. They remained on scene to give information to the arriving units.
Crews arrived on scene within minutes of dispatch to find a large woods fire which was approximately 500 feet away from the State Forest Entrance and parking lot. A Brush Fire Task Force was started which alerted additional firefighters from Bay District, Hollywood, Solomons, Mechanicsville and Seventh District.
A short time after upgrading the assignment with the Brush Fire Task Force, additional UTV’s, Tankers and other units were requested, which involved Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Forest Service, Maryland State Police, Maryland State Police Aviation Command (which were not available to respond) and St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, along with additional firefighters from every fire department in St. Mary’s County, including Leonardtown, Mechanicsville, Bay District, Ridge, Seventh District, Second District, Hollywood and NAS Patuxent River.
Firefighters located an approximately 500 foot by 500 woods fire which was rapidly spreading in different directions, within 30 minutes of being on scene, firefighters utilized a drone to find the fire had spread over a 4 acre area with different spot fires starting and spreading due to the wind.
Personnel operated on the scene for over 4 hours to contain and extinguish the fire, with bulldozers, forestry and personnel from DNR remaining on scene to observe and extinguish hot spots and make fire lines. The fire was estimated to stretch over a 6 acre area with multiple spot fires caused by the steady breeze and wind.
No injuries were reported during the entire incident, no structures or public property was damaged.
SMNEWSNET and our firefighters would like to thank the McDonald’s in California, MD for having over 100 breakfast sandwiches made, local small businesses BHCreation and SCANMD, for drinks, snacks, aerial drone and other support, along with Associate Members and the Ladies Auxiliary from Bay District and Hollywood VFD’s for their support, delivery of food and drinks, Mission BBQ in California for over 6 pounds of food provided for our volunteers.
The Salem property was acquired by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in 2003, it is 902 acres and is entirely wooded with opportunities for hiking, mountain biking and equestrian use. The Salem State Forest was expanded in 2015 when the Maryland Department of Natural Resources acquired the Walton Lumber Property. The Walton Lumber purchase included two separate tracts. Tract 1 (715 acres) is attached to the original Salem State Forest and tract 2 (137 acres) is located on the north and south sides of Wilderness Run Road, making the entire property 1754 acres. This property is a trash free state forest.
