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Crews Contain 3-Alarm Fire In Glen Burnie

GLEN BURNIE, Md. (WJZ) -- Several condos are uninhabitable, destroyed by a fast-moving fire near the Glen Burnie Mall.

Weijia Jiang has the damage and first-person accounts from survivors.

Some residents were sleeping when the fire broke out, waking up to rooms filled with black smoke.  Many are still shaken up over this powerful fire.

A three-alarm fire ripped through a Glen Burnie condominium building, displacing at least 11 families.

"The entire top was on fire.  Flames were 30, 40 feet high," said neighbor Roger Underhill.

Firefighters say the fire started on the top floor and spread quickly---but they don't know why.

"There could be some common throughways in the attic space so it jumps from one apartment to the other," said Anne Arundel County fire Department Lt. Keith Hamilton.

"We started beating on all the windows, my son and I," said one.

That man saw black smoke from half a mile away.  He and his 12-year-old son saved two dogs from one apartment.

Others weren't so lucky.  Though Donna Eason saved her cat, she lost a lifetime's worth of work.

"I'm a writer; I'm a poet.  All my writing, 30, 40 years' worth of writing is in there," Eason said.

Crews spent several hours boarding the building up.  Fire authorities are not letting anyone inside for now.  That includes people who live there.

"We usually don't deal with the aftermath.  Now I'm part of the aftermath," said Kevin Hartlove.

Hartlove, a firefighter himself, came to check on his father's condo.

"Twenty-eight years helping other people.  Now my dad's on the receiving end of being helped," Hartlove said.

Though six homes were totaled and several others damaged, no one was hurt.

The Red Cross is providing food, shelter and supplies to those who are displaced.  Many are staying with nearby family members.  To donate to the Red Cross, click here.

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