Crime & Safety
UPDATE: Townhouse Fire Shuts Down Gallows Road
A resident called 911 about the fire. There were no injuries.
Updated Friday 12:50 p.m.
Fire investigators have ruled the fire as accidental. According to a news release, the cause was due to incense burning in the basement too close to comustible materials.
Damges are estimated at $50,000 and six adults and two children have been displaced. The occupants have accepted Red Cross assistance.
Find out what's happening in Annandalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Original post: Thursday, Dec. 1 at 6 p.m.
Find out what's happening in Annandalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
A fire in the 3300 block of Wheatwheel Lane in Annandale temporarily shut down the majority of traffic headed north and south on Gallows Road Thursday evening.
William Hong was driving down Gallows Road when he saw smoke coming from one of the townhouses in the Raintree community. He pulled over, saw a panicked-looking Asian woman outside with her two children, and went inside the townhouse where the smoke was coming from to make sure no one else was inside.
Hong, who is the president of the Korean American Association of Virginia, said he saw a small fire coming from a vent in the floor, grabbed a small pot of water, and put the fire out. He then ventured to the basement, where he saw much more smoke and fire and closed the door to stop the fire from spreading to the rest of the home. Once he was back outside, he called 911.
Not soon after, around 4:15 p.m., Annandale fire stations 408, 423 (West Annandale), 418 (Jefferson), and 430 (Merrifield) arrived on scene.
According to Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department Battalion Chief Ty Harrington, firefighters saw smoke coming from the contemporary-style townhouse and discovered a burned out room downstairs. It took about 10 minutes to get the fire out.
There were no fire department or civilian injuries. The cause of the fire and estimate of damages is still to be determined.
The activity shut down all traffic headed south on Gallows Road from Falls Church and Merrifield and backed up traffic in Annandale to approximately Executive Drive. The I-495 exit was also temporarily blocked off.
Annandale Patch will update this story as soon as more details are released.
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