On September 8, 2004 at about 12:30 am, units from Hughesville Fire and EMS were dispatched to a commercial building fire at the main SMECO building on Burnt Store Road in Hughesville. Benedict, Mechanicsville, LaPlata and Westlake were called to assist during the initial dispatch.

Engine 23 arrived and hooked to the connection while tanker 2 assumed water supply. Engine 22/Chief 2 arrived and established Burnt Store Road Command. Engine 23 entered the building and found a strong odor of smoke and a haze of smoke along the entire first floor.

All other floors were checked and cleared by Mechanicsville’s squad 2 while Waldorf’s truck 3 set up fans to help remove the smoke. Engine 23’s crew found a severely overheated computer UPS transformer “red hot” with their thermal imager. SMECO personnel assisted with by-passing the transformer and then isolated the problem. The smell dissipated and the smoke was removed.

Units from Co.2, truck 3 and EMS 2 were initially held on the scene after all other units were placed in service from staging.

Once the smoke was completely removed, all units went in service after Co. 12 filled in at Co. 2.