Prince William fire damage tops $1 million

Property damage from fires is up across the county at an alarming rate.

Firefighters have been working tirelessly in recent weeks, battling a number of blazes. In the last two weeks, damage estimates have totaled nearly $1.5 million.

While the number is unusually high, none of the fires seem to be related. And none of them have been caused by changes in weather, Prince William Fire Marshal Joe Robertson, said in an e-mail interview.

Robertson said some winter fires are sparked by people dumping fireplace ashes in a paper bag and leaving them on their deck. The ashes then cause the deck to catch on fire.

But that wasn't the case outside Manassas on Tuesday.

A fire in the 9500 block of Damascus Drive caused $240,000 worth of property damage.

An investigation into the blaze concluded the cause to be accidental and started by an electrical problem, Prince William Fire Marshal Joe Robertson said.

No one was injured during the blaze.

The occupant of the house, Endy Antonio, 32, said he had rented the property just a week earlier and had only slept in the house Monday night.

The house was without electricity, heat and water, as those utilities had not been activated yet.

A spokesman for the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative power company said a technician went to the home around 10 a.m. and turned on the electricity to the house.

Antonio said he went to get breakfast at a fast food restaurant. When he returned around 10 a.m., the house was in flames.

Another fire early Monday in Woodbridge was a criminal act, police said. The blaze in the Rippon Landing area took the life of a 31-year-old woman and injured both her husband and a volunteer firefighter.

The husband, Mario Jennings Jr., 36, has been charged with setting the blaze and also faces a felony murder charge in his wife's death.

Jennings and the firefighter were treated at a local hospital and released.

Last week, two other fires in the area caused hundreds

of thousands of dollars in damage.

A large home in the 10400 block of Lowery Court near Manassas burned to the ground, causing $700,000 worth of damage.

And someone torched a small passenger bus parked at a Potomac Mills area restaurant in the early hours of Nov. 10. The damage estimate was more than $40,000.

"We are in peak fire season," Randy Earl, Prince William fire and rescue spokesman, said.

Cooking fires, open flames from candles, electric Christmas decorations and space heaters placed too close to furni-ture are often the culprits in fires from late fall to early spring, Earl said.

According to the department, chimneys are often the cause of fires. They recommend checking chimneys annually before the cold weather sets in.

Nearly 10 years ago, six people were killed when their town house in the 14700 block of Darbydale Avenue in Dale City burned to the ground Christmas Day.

The family, two adults and three children, ages 9, 8 and 4, were killed in what Earl called one of the worst fires in the county's history.

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