January 1st, 2020 by WCBC Radio
FIRE MARSHAL
NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION
Date: 1/1/2020
Time: 9:40 a.m.
Location / Address: 536 Maryland Ave, Cumberland, Maryland
Type of Incident: Suspicious fire
Description of Structure / Property: Two-story, wood balloon frame construction
Owner : City of Cumberland
Injuries or Deaths: One fire fighter sustained an eye injury and refused medical treatment.
Estimated $ Loss: Structure: $15,000 Contents: $500
Smoke Alarm Status: Present but not functioning
Fire Alarm / Sprinkler Status: None present
Arrests(s): none
Primary Responding Fire Department: Cumberland Fire Dept
# of Alarms: 1 # Of Firefighters: 36
Time to Control: 1 hour
Discovered By: Member of the Cumberland Fire Department
Area of Origin: Front closet on second floor
Preliminary Cause: Under investigation
Additional Information: House was vacant. No electrical or water was turned on. The Office of the State Fire Marshal's Western Regional Office assisted the Fire Marshal from City of Cumberland Fire Department.
January 02, 2020 at 9:03 am, Kevin said:
Was the property properly boarded up and secure? Sure doesn’t look like it. This could have been an epic disaster and the fact that it happened shows a continued pattern of abuse towards the neighborhood by the city and the CEDC. Policy seems to be to torment and harass the residents who are just trying to live safely in peace on their own property. Turning the area into a bus depot for Macy’s has created traffic nightmare and pollutes the air the homebound residents breathe with busses on idle for hours at a time. Cumberland should be doing better.