Fire threatens Howardwick residents in Nocona Hills

A Saturday afternoon grassfire threatened several homes at Howardwick before being brought under control.

Fire Chief Will Jordan said the blaze appeared to have started from an abandoned campfire near Old Clarendon Point.

“It was a really strange deal,” Jordan said. “It looked like they were using construction scraps for the fire.”

Emergency personnel were paged to the fire shortly after 5 p.m. Three units and eight firemen from the Howardwick Fire Department responded, and the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department sent eight units and 15 men.

Jordan said it took five hours to fight the fire.

“Greenbelt Water Authority sent a maintainer and cut some nice fire breaks,” Jordan said. “Clarendon back burned, and we were able to control it then.”

The fire threatened to spread up Carroll Creek and into the Nacona Hills section of the community, Jordan said.

“We were preparing for evacuations if that had happened,” he said.

Jordan said his department has been working with Greenbelt to clean brush out of the creek bed. He also urges residents to take advantage of the city’s FireWise program through which trained volunteers will help identify fire hazards near homes in Howardwick, and he reminds people to be really careful with campfires.