Officer kicks down door to rescue husband and wife in Montgomery Co. fire

A house fire in Colesville, Maryland, caused significant damage Tuesday morning. (Courtesy Montgomery County Fire and Rescue)
A house fire in Colesville, Maryland, caused significant damage Tuesday morning. (Courtesy Montgomery County Fire and Rescue)
A house fire in Colesville, Maryland, caused significant damage Tuesday morning. (Courtesy Montgomery County Fire and Rescue)
A house fire in Colesville, Maryland, caused significant damage Tuesday morning. (Courtesy Montgomery County Fire and Rescue)
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A woman and her husband in Colesville, Maryland, were rescued by a Montgomery County police officer and an off-duty firefighter — all before fire trucks arrived to the house.

Sgt. Scott Brooks, a police veteran of more than 20 years, and the off-duty firefighter, who were both nearby, saw smoke and called it in.

But they got to the house before fire trucks did.

The house was “fully engulfed, coming from the back area, both smoke and fire,” Brooks said.

Brooks found the woman standing inside after kicking down the door and helped her outside.

Brooks then went back into the burning house and found the woman’s husband and helped him to get out.

“I just look at it like if they were my parents … any Montgomery County police officer or firefighter would’ve done the same thing,” he said.

The fire happened just before 5:30 a.m. on Stanley Lane near New Hampshire Avenue.

The fire burned for more than an hour before being put out.

No one was hurt and it’s not yet clear what caused the fire.

Below is a map of the area where the fire erupted:

WTOP’s Neal Augenstein contributed to this report from Montgomery County.

Teddy Gelman

Teddy Gelman became Morning Drive Producer in February 2020. Prior to that, he worked as a weekend producer and an assistant producer after joining WTOP in 2018. He’s also filed news stories on-air, anchored sportscasts and produced for the WTOP traffic team.

Will Vitka

William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com. He's been in the news industry for over a decade. Before joining WTOP, he worked for CBS News, Stuff Magazine, The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them, with more to come.

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