Photo: The civic-building construction site in 3D. Couresy of Montgomery County department of general services.
A small fire on Fenton Street was quashed before it got cooking Friday afternoon.
The fire started before 3:50 p.m., when welders working the civic-building construction site on Fenton and Ellsworth Drive set off sparks that ignited tools and debris in a cart below them, Bill Delaney, with the county’s fire and rescue services, told The Penguin via email.
Though the fire was small — construction workers snuffed it out before firefighters arrived — it sent smoke billowing over the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center, property manager Jennifer Nettles told Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board Monday night.
No one was injured, but the fire caused about $1200 in damage to the construction site, Delaney wrote. This damage was not enough to screw with the construction timeline, which has the civic building opening its doors next summer, Roylene Roberts, interim director of Silver Spring’s regional center, said.
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I can attest to the billowing smoke as I walked by about 4pm — then the police blocked off Fenton & Ellsworth – causing an even bigger to-do during a Friday rush hour. Luckily, it was all over but the shouting by 4:30pm.
Probably advisable in the future that construction crew avoid setting the site on fire.