Severe Storms Slam Area

In the early morning hours on Thursday, strong storms passed through the southern part of the county, causing damage including two fires in Winfield's (Co 14) area. Engine/Tanker 82 transferred to New Windsor at 9:37 AM. As the day progressed, the sky's were partly cloudy and no further storm related incidents were reported until about 4:30PM on Thursday evening when the second batch of severe weather passed through our area.

'Carroll' ECC (Emergency Communications Center) verbalized a warning that a severe storm, moving in from the Emmittsburg area and travelling in a southwest direction, showed rapid rotation. The area was placed under a 'Tornado Warning' by the National Weather Service. A severe deluge of rain and strong winds moved through the area slowly, dumping nearly 2 inches of rain in just over 1 hour.

At 4:50 PM, our first call was dispatched to the 5-14 box for wires down and an odor of smoke in a house on Bruceville Rd., just outside of Keymar. As Engine 81 responded to that call, a Box Assignment was struck in the 5-7 box area for a house fire. Neither of these incidents turned out to be major incidents. More calls came in, back to back, in various 8 boxes and Frederick County 17 boxes.

Over the next 4 hours, Union Bridge units responded to a total of 9 calls, mostly wires and trees down or on fire. It was reported by Alleghany Power that more than 3,000 residents in the Taneytown, Keymar, Union Bridge and New Windsor areas were without power. Union Bridge handled it's last storm related incident at 9:12 PM in Frederick County on Dotterer Rd for wires down.