A significant fire broke out at a U.S. Department of Agriculture building in Beltsville, and emergency personnel were eventually able to get the blaze under control.
Advertisement
“This fire was huge once we arrived on scene”, said Mark Brady, a spokesperson with the Prince George’s County Fire and EMS Department.
An Agriculture Department statement said the fire occurred at a storage shed and there were no injuries.
Live television footage showed ladder trucks and firefighters on foot pouring water on a frame structure with much of its metal roof off.
A USDA spokeswoman had no details on whether the building was burned to the ground, or if anything was stolen.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Baltimore field division spokesman David Cheplak says arson and explosives investigators, who often investigate large fires and fires at federal facilities, have responded to the scene.
Advertisement
USDA offices were closed last week in five states -Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia – following “several anonymous threats”.
