WYE MILLS, Md. — A large fire at a Talbot County sand and gravel facility required hours of coordinated response from multiple fire crews over the weekend.
Firefighters from Easton, Cordova, St. Michaels, and other mutual aid departments were called to the scene after flames quickly escalated and spread across the property.
Bobby Messix, chief of the Cordova Volunteer Firemen’s Association, says the fire began as a structure fire before extending into large piles of mulch and timber, quickly turning into a multi-alarm incident.
“The fire spread…rapidly due to the fuel amount that was in the building and due to the intensity of the heat, it multiplied,” Messix said.
Messix said crews had to constantly move equipment as the fire continued to spread through multiple areas of the site.
“We had to move equipment around a lot due to the different piles that were catching on fire,” Messix told WBOC. “So that was really it was just, like, really manpower related, very physically intense for the guys to do–to do that.”
One of the early challenges was water supply, as the rural location did not have immediate access to hydrants.
“There really wasn't any water initially available other than our tankers that we had there,” Messix said. “But then we had to start a tanker shuttle service to go to these water draft sites that we had established.”
Lt. Bill Keswick with the Easton Volunteer Fire Department said the response required long hours and significant effort from crews.
“Exhausting. And one aspect, it's a lot of time. A lot of a lot of energy,” Keswick said.
He added that despite the complexity of the incident, multiple agencies were able to work together effectively.
“In terms of differences, we're all trained to do the same things, and we managed to work together very well,” Keswick said.
Fire officials say crews spent hours rotating through the scene to bring the fire under control and prevent further spread.
A tanker shuttle system was established to maintain a steady water supply to the fireground. Officials say smoke may continue to be visible for weeks due to the large amount of mulch and timber that burned. The Maryland Forestry Service remains on scene monitoring conditions.
