Though a fire damaged 14 apartments and displaced 24 families in Woodlawn Friday night, fire officials were thankful yesterday that the losses and injuries were not more severe.
During the blaze, which began in the first block of Retinue Court, firefighters rescued a 5-year-old girl from a second-floor balcony moments before it was engulfed by fire. The girl was not injured.
Two firefighters from Woodlawn stations were treated for first- and second-degree burns. Five other residents were treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries.
"We came close," said Mark Hubbard, a battalion chief for the county Fire Department.
The two-alarm fire, reported at about 10 p.m., damaged a 14-unit building and the electrical and telephone wires of an adjoining building in the Windsor Mill Cooperative, a 202-unit complex.
Mr. Hubbard said the fire started in a ground-floor unit when a 6-year-old boy, mimicking his grandmother's method of lighting a stove pilot light, placed paper on the stove and accidentally set a bed on fire when the paper ignited.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Stephen Hoffman, co-owner of Metro Property Management Inc. of Baltimore, which manages the complex. "The steel doors were completely melted. The concrete fire walls were the only thing left. It was a devastating fire."
Mr. Hoffman said he was awaiting a damage estimate. He said most of the units were damaged by smoke.
The fire displaced 12 families who lived in the building where it began and 12 families who lived in the second building, Mr. Hoffman said. He did not say how many people were displaced.
The management company relocated seven families to the Best Western-Welcome Inn on Security Boulevard, about 10 miles from the complex. The remaining families moved in with friends and relatives.
John Hunt, a county Fire Department spokesman, said the injured firefighters were Paul Kelbel and Kellie Roody.
Mr. Kelbel, 27, was treated at Northwest Hospital Center in Randallstown for smoke inhalation and first-degree burns of his face and ears, then released.
Ms. Roody, 30, was under observation yesterday at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore after being treated for first- and second-degree burns onher knees, lower back injuries and a fractured wrist, hospital officials said. She was to be released last night.
Two residents, including a 6-month-old girl, were treated at Sinai Hospital for smoke inhalation and released. Firefighters also treated three other residents at the scene for minor injuries.
At the scene yesterday, the Red Cross served 75 meals from a McDonald's restaurant, distributed clothing and provided a nurse and two mental health counselors for residents.