Fire evacuates Pr. George's nursing home

Nineteen residents of a nursing facility in Prince George’s County have been evacuated after a fire just outside the building, and it appeared that they would be temporarily displaced, a spokesman for the county fire department said.

Two residents of the facility appeared to suffer chest pains or breathing problems after the evacuation from the Paint Branch Nursing Home on Powder Mill Road in the Adelphi area of the county, said fire and emergency medical services spokesman Mark E. Brady. They were taken to hospitals but the problems did not appear serious, he said.

He said a Montgomery County firefighter who was sent to the scene suffered a back injury.

Brady said the fire broke out on a wooden deck attached to the facility and only a little heat and smoke penetrated the two-story building.

However, he said, it appeared late Thursday that damage from the 9 p.m. fire would be sufficient to displace the residents overnight. No cause for the fire was known immediately.

--Martin Weil