On Monday, May 19, 2025, at approximately 1:36 a.m., firefighters from Bay District, NAS Patuxent River, Hollywood and Second District responded to the 21000 block of North Essex Drive in Lexington Park, for the reported house on fire.
The homeowner called 911 and reported smoke throughout the residence with evacuations ongoing.
Crews arrived on the scene to find nothing evident from the 1-story residence, with the homeowner and his 3 dogs outside.
Upon further investigation and performing a 360 of the residence, firefighters located fire in a bedroom and extinguished it in under 15 minutes.
Searches of the residence found no occupants or animals, while checking for extensions, crews found fire in the walls.
Emergency medical services evaluated the homeowner on scene and transported him to the MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown with smoke inhalation.
Two dogs were located and placed into the care/custody of St. Mary’s County Animal Control. One dog is still missing and was last seen running through the neighborhood.
The Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal was contacted, however, did not respond to investigate. The fire, after consulting with Incident Command, was determined to be electrical and accidental.
