Massive Fire Destroys Two Homes, Damages Another - WMDT 47 News - Delmarva's Choice

SOUTH BETHANY, Del. - Early Thursday morning, flames started to rise in a home in South Bethany Delaware. The neighbor who first reported the fire, Mike Krieg, said "I looked out the window and saw a fire starting on the ground floor, and by the time I got off the phone with 911, that'd already gone up to the 3rd floor."

As fire crews arrived to Anchorage Avenue around 3 AM, they realized this battle would have some unique challenges. The three homes sit at the end of a dead end street and behind them, a canal; which according to Bethany Fire Company PIO, Joe Hopple, could be dangerous, "Firefighters in the dark, walking, could easily walk right into the canal and this protective equipment does not make swimming very easy. This situation the water main goes down the street a dead end, so it's only drawing water off of one main and that's not good for fire operation, especially when you have to flow as much water as we had to."

To fight these fires, trucks were pumping in 2,000 gallons of water per minute. Officials say the vacation homes were empty, so luckily no one was injured. Two of the homes were damaged beyond repair, the third was salvageable. Still the full extent of the loss won't be seen until crews come in to assess.

Hopple says, "that much fire, radiant heat, can melt siding from several houses away, so we've gotta look at all the other homes in the area, make sure no other homes were damaged."