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UPDATE: Cause determined in fire near Lovettsville
A stove was left on at a house just west of Lovettsville Aug. 11, causing half of the house to be destroyed by fire.
No one was home, but a firefighter and a neighbor were injured in the blaze. The injuries were not life-threatening, Loudoun County Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Mary Maguire said.
A neighbor of the home at 40456 Quarter Branch Road called 911 about 3:40 p.m. and told dispatchers it sounded like the house exploded, Loudoun County Fire-Rescue spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said.
Firefighters found fire billowing from one side of the house.
According to firefighter Randall Shank with Loudoun County Fire-Rescue, some firefighters attacked the side of the home on fire from the outside, while others went inside the other half of the home to make sure no one was trapped and to contain the fire as much as possible.
The left side of the house consisted of a two-car garage and an apartment, Sternbeck said. This was the section the fire gutted, burning down some exterior walls and causing the roof to partially collapse.
Crews from Loudoun County and Frederick County, Md., contained the fire within 15 minutes, Sternbeck said.
Five minutes later, the fire was extinguished, Maguire said.
The Loudoun County Fire Marshal's Office is calling the blaze, which resulted in $350,000 worth of damage, an accident.
Neighbor Harriet Fogle said the house is owned by a woman who is living in a long-term care facility at the moment. A couple rents the apartment, but they were not there when the fire began.
Firefighters had to draw water from a stream off Lovettsville Road because the property is served by a well and not town water, Sternbeck said.
According to the Loudoun County tax records, the one-story tan brick house with a brown shingled roof was built in 1988. The county last assessed the nearly 7-acre property at $569,400.
The house contains a heat pump, and its fuel type is electric.
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