Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential St. Charles, MD – Overnight fire at assisted living facility controlled with help from sprinkler system January 1, 2017 viking210 Deputy State fire Marshals investigated an accidental fire that occurred at the Morningside House of St. Charles four-story assisted living facility at 70 Village Street in Waldorf, Charles County. The property is owned and operated by the Senior Lifestyle Corporation. The 11:47 p.m. fire activated the smoke detection system and fire sprinkler system allowing occupants of forty apartments on the second and third floors to evacuate without injury. Occupants on the first and fourth floors were safely sheltered in place. Nearly 50 firefighters from Charles and Prince George’s Counties assisted the Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department at the scene. The fire was contained to the malfunctioning wall mounted heating and air conditioning appliance inside apartment #214. The damage to the structure and contents was confined to fire and smoke damage to the apartment of origin and water throughout the second floor. Occupants of the second floor are being temporarily relocated elsewhere in the facility during clean-up. Damage estimates were limited to $40,000 to the structure and contents. Residential fire sprinklers are effectively proven to save lives and reduce the costs associated when an uncontrolled fire develops. Fires occurring in unprotected structures of this type often are the result of significant injuries or worse to occupants along with a high dollar value loss and extended lengths of time for restoration of the building.
