Man, 27, arrested in Dumfries area fire

Police have charged a man in connection with an early morning apartment fire near Dumfries on Tuesday.

Prince William County fire marshals on Tuesday arrested 27-year-old Christopher J. Minor and charged him with arson. Officials said Minor entered a bedroom of a bottom-level, town house-style apartment at 16637 Flotilla Way about 4 a.m., and lit a pillow on fire.

Officials said he then left the scene.

No one was home when the fire started. An investigation is ongoing.

Fire officials said a sprinkler in the bedroom saved the lives and homes of at least three families. The damage, estimated to be about $7,000, was contained to the master bedroom.

It appears the fire started at the head of a queen bed in the room and quickly spread up one of the bedroom walls to the ceiling.

One fire sprinkler head activated and quickly doused the fire, said Prince William County Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Joseph S. Robertson.

“This fire had all the makings of a larger fire but the sprinkler was able to activate and knock it down fairly quickly,” said Robertson.

Black walls, a burned-out mattress and soggy carpet were the only signs that there had been a fire. Furniture, clothes and pictures all remained untouched; a copy of the Holy Bible laid opened on one of the dressers.

Neighbors were thankful that the flames did not damage their homes.

“When I woke up I thought it was a fire in my own home … I saw smoke in my house … I knew if it wasn’t for those sprinklers the fire would have come for my house and it would have been a catastrophe,” said 16-year-old John Harrod.

The neighborhood is full of what Robertson described as town house-style apartments that are fashioned after condominiums. The three-story structures house an apartment on each floor.

Fire officials in Prince William County and throughout the state are hoping to educate residents on the benefits of residential sprinklers, despite a July vote on the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development that barred a move that would force developers to install the systems in new homes.

That vote would move requirements for sprinklers through the regulatory process in Virginia.

Firefighters say the sprinklers would save lives but the home building industry largely claims they would drive up home construction costs.

The International Code Council, an organization dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, approved a code earlier this year, which calls for the
installation of the systems in new one and two-story single-family homes.

A final vote as to whether or not the state will adopt the code could come early next year.

Several locations in the U.S., including Prince George’s County, Md., have adopted mandatory home sprinkler regulations. However, no state as a whole has adopted the policy.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.