CAMBRIDGE, Md.- Around 12:20 Thursday morning, firefighters arrived on the 400 block of High Street in Cambridge.
Authorities continue to investigate the apartment fire in which left three people dead - including a child - and two others injured.
"When we peaked out the windows, the heat was so bad it melted our blinds and cracked windows and all. It was a terrible sight. Very terrible," says neighbor Ben Saunders Sr.
The Maryland State Fire Marshal says it took over 75 firefighters from Cambridge and all over the shore 90 minutes to get the flames under control. Tragically, an 8-year old girl, her 18-year old sister, and 41-year old father died. The 31-year old mother and her 11-year old daughter survived.
Warren Muhammad, a friend of one of the father says, "he was a good friend of mine." Warren says the man did a tattoo for him, "I told him I wanted a tattoo of my mother's name on it. Matter of fact, he gave me a discount because he liked aquariums. And I gave him an old aquarium I had and he cut off the price for me."
On Wednesday, hours before the fire, Warren says he drove by the house to say hello. "I threw my hand out the window and we called him 'Mack', I said 'Hey Mack!' and he said, 'hey Warren!' And you know, I kept it moving. When I heard about this, this morning, and my son pulled it up on his telephone and showed me, I said 'oh my God, just please tell me this ain't true!' but from what I'm hearing, it's true."
The Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office said that shortly after midnight Thursday, the Rescue (Cambridge) Fire Company responded to the 400 block of High Street in Cambridge for a structure fire after a neighbor called 911 reporting the blaze. When firefighters arrived on the scene they observed severe fire conditions coming from the interior of the three-story brick structure that contained two apartments. The fire eventually reached three alarms, bringing in several surrounding fire departments to assist with suppression activities. It took approximately 75 firefighters approximately 90 minutes to bring the blaze under control.
As a result of the fire, a 31-year-old woman was transported by ambulance to Tidal Health in Salisbury with serious injuries. She will be flown to Baltimore for more advanced medical treatment. In addition; an 11-year-old girl was transported by ambulance to Tidal Health in Salisbury for minor injuries, after a Maryland State Trooper and city of Cambridge Police Officer assisted her off of a landing she escaped to via a window on the second floor of the structure. She was treated and later released.
The blaze claimed the lives of three other occupants of the building. An 8-year-old girl, 18-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man perished as a result of the fire. They will be transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore to determine the exact cause of death.
Deputy state fire marshals from the Lower Eastern Region, along with the Cambridge Police Department, are investigating the cause of the fire.
