Crime & Safety

Firefighter Taken To Bayview after Call in Dundalk

A Baltimore County firefighter is "conscious and alert" after experiencing a medical problem while fighting a fire on Dunmanway.

UPDATE (4:45 p.m.)—A male Baltimore County firefighter is "conscious and alert" after suffering a medical problem while on a call in the 7600 block of Dunmanway, a fire department spokesman said.

The call was dispatched at 11:33 a.m. and involved smoke from a melted extension cord on a television set, spokesman Elise Armacost said.

The firefighter, based out of Eastview Station No. 15, was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

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Initial reports that described the firefighter as in cardiac arrest and indicated that CPR was performed on site were false, Armacost said.

"It was not a cardiac arrest. He suffered a medical condition at the scene, was treated at the scene, and then transported to Bayview," Armacost said. "He'll likely stay overnight for tests. We're very optimistic he's going to be OK."

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Benny Butrim, the homeowner where the fire call originated, said an extension cord plugged into his television set melted and burned a 6-inch hole into the carpet, filling the living room and home with smoke. Before the cord began burning, Butrim had just driven away from the house, he said, leaving in his pickup truck with his wife, Sachiko, for a day trip to the Conowingo Dam.

"We were just up at the corner and I said, 'Let's go home, I've got to use the bathroom' before we went all the way up there," Butrim said, adding that the television was turned off at the time. "I opened the door and said, 'Oh shoot, give me the phone,' and I dialed 911. Smoke was everywhere."

Other than the hole in the carpet, the home was not damaged. Butrim added that the carpeting, fairly new, was fire-retardant. He said smoke and carbon dioxide alarms were not activated.

Capt. Fred Burkhardt of nearby Baltimore County Fire Station No. 6 on Sollers Point Road, which also responded, said several cord prongs were plugged into the same, smaller extension cord, likely causing the problem. He also said a cord from a 42-inch television was plugged into the smaller extension cord.

"Big screen TVs can draw as much power as air-conditioning wall units, especially the plasma televisions," Burkhardt said. "The new ones are a little more efficient, but you shouldn't ever plug a larger cord from an appliance into a cord that's smaller."

Butrim and his wife said they were grateful for the firefighters' response and would try to reach out to the firefighter taken to Bayview.

"I hope he's OK," Sachiko Butrim said before leaving for Home Depot with her husband to buy a new, larger extension cord. "I would like to send him a card."


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