NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION

Date: 07/18/2026

Time: 9:12 p.m.

Location / Address: 17 Autumn Woods Drive, Elkton, Cecil County

Type of Incident: Dwelling Fire

Description of Structure / Property: Single-family residence

Owner / Occupants: Michael Orwig

Injuries or Deaths: None

Estimated $ Loss: Structure: $18,000.00     Contents: $2,000.00

Smoke Alarm Status: Present - did not activate initially due to fire in the ceiling space

Fire Alarm / Sprinkler Status: Not Present

Arrests(s): N/A

Primary Responding Fire Department: North East Fire Company

# of Alarms: 1     # of Firefighters: 20

Time to Control: 10 minutes

Discovered By: Owner

Area of Origin: Basement ceiling space 

Preliminary Cause: Failure of Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing (CSST) due to a lightning strike

Additional Information: The owner was awake in the basement at the time of the fire and heard a cracking sound.  Once he discovered the fire in the ceiling space, he utilized both fire extinguishers and a garden hose to keep the fire in check until the fire company could arrive.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal is an agency of the Department of State Police dedicated to helping protect citizens from fire and explosion through a comprehensive program of education, inspection, investigation and fire protection engineering.  For more information on fire safety call 1-800-525-3124, log onto our website at: Maryland State Fire Marshal and/or our Facebook Page.

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