Two hurt as fire rips through town houses

A blaze ripped through a Dale City town house two days after the owner lost his job as a truck driver.

The 53-year-old man, his wife and children, were inside their home at 6077 Ticket Way when the blaze broke out about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Fire crews and police brought traffic in Dale City’s Trentdale neighborhood to a standstill while the blaze was brought under control.

A spokesman for the family, who identified himself only as Ahmed, said the fire started in the basement, where the man and his 11-year-old his son were.

The boy suffered burns on his leg and the man on his arm. Both were flown to the hospital.

Both victims made it out of the house on their own.

Rescue crews said there were at least six people inside of the house when flames broke out. Those who weren’t injured stayed behind to talk to the Prince William Chapter of the Red Cross.

He added the Red Cross gave the family a check for $1,000, which will go to provide clothing and shelter for the family for the next three days.

Prince William Fire and Rescue Chief Dale McCleese said their injuries appeared to be non-life threatening, and said the cause of the fire had yet to be determined.

The family had just moved into the house over the weekend, adding even more stress for a family that was just trying to settle into their new home.

“We’re very fortunate that we didn’t have wind today because the fire could have engulfed the attics of these homes and that would have caused even more damage,” said McCleese.

The fire gutted not only the house where it started, but severely damaged three others that sit next to it.

The fourth house sustained heavy smoke damage and the owners were told by fire officials not to go back inside until all of the fire equipment had been removed and the scene was deemed safe.

One next-door neighbor, who did not give her name, was in tears as firefighters turned their charged hoses on her house.

“She is very shaken up ... she has roommates but she was the only one home with her dog,” said a man who identified himself as her father. “We’re taking her back to our house.”

The woman said she pulled two of her dogs from the burning house — both of them cocker spaniels.

Rickey Eaton, who lives nearby on Terminal Road, said he had just returned from the Bloom supermarket with his fiancé when he saw the flames and smoke.

“You could see it from the road coming up on Trentdale,” Eaton said.

Firefighters from as far away as Manassas and Fairfax were called to help extinguish the two-alarm blaze.