The five-alarm fire that devastated the top floors of a large apartment project in College Park and shuttered the University of Maryland on Monday caused nearly $40 million in damage, Prince George’s County Fire and EMS said.
The cause of the blaze, first reported at about 9:35 a.m. at Wood Partners’ seven-story Fuse 47 project on Berwyn House Road, has not been determined. But it took about 200 firefighters from Prince George’s and surrounding jurisdictions roughly five hours to bring it under control. The battle to keep it out continued into Tuesday morning, as hot spots and hard-to-reach areas continued to burn, Prince George’s Fire reported.
The fire, which Prince George’s declared as “the largest suppression effort and the highest fire loss estimate in the history of the department,” caused $39 million in damage. It was particularly difficult to fight, fire officials said, as the back side of the project was constructed into a hillside and was unreachable by firefighters.