High Winds Trigger Brush Fires in Severna Park and County

Unusual triggered numerous fires throughout the region this past weekend, forcing some county firefighters to work through the night Saturday and prompting the aid of outside assistance from surrounding counties.

In Severna Park, there was a brush fire outside near the Walgreens and Auto Zone on Ritchie Highway on Saturday evening with units dispatched at 5:52 p.m., according to Michael Cox, division chief for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. The fire was small about 10-by-10 ft. and was extinguished quickly. "It was a drop of water compared to what we were dealing with over the weekend," said Cox.

The other brush fire occurred at Benfield and Najoles Road on Sunday at 12:58 p.m. According to Cox, that was also a small brush fire and extinguished quickly. The firefighters then moved down the street to Routes 97 and 32 for another brush fire incident. "Every couple of years this happens. the conditions were right, the wind whips small fires into the big ones," said Cox."There were red flag warnings up all weekend."

"We are asking people to not improperly discard smoking materials and to take care when operating outdoor grills," he said.

Capt. James Rostek, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, said limited resources made it difficult to quantify the exact number of fires. He added that the county had approximately 269 fire-related calls in a 24-hour span from Friday to Saturday.

Among the calls Rostek mentioned were three multi-alarm fires, including a "four-plus-alarm" , a two-alarm fire at a mulch manufacturer in Pasadena and a fire on Maple Avenue in Hanover. In addition, Edgewater-Davidsonville Patch reported on a .

Rostek said the largest fire, which occurred in Odenton is “now contained but not extinguished.”

He said units were on the scene all night on Saturday, but had to be pulled out of the woods due to dangerous working conditions. New crews were brought in on Sunday morning, Rostek said.

As of Sunday afternoon, Rostek said no civilians or firefighters were injured from the fires. Rostek said some accessory structures—but no homes—were lost in the fires.

*Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include details on brush fires in Severna Park.