John Matthews
WMAL.com
BELTSVILLE — (WMAL) Firefighters put out a two-alarm fire at the U.S. Department of Agriculture facility in Beltsville Tuesday morning. Crews from the Prince GEroge’s County fire department arrived at the Beltsville campus shortly before 10 Tuesday morning to find heavy smoke and flames billowing from a building that houses a garage.
There were several vehicles inside that burned, but no reports of injuries.
A county fire department tweet indicated that the heavy flames prompted crews to set up ladder trucks so the fire could be attacked from the air. Heavy black and white smoke billowed high into the sky as the fire was put out.
Fire officials have not indicated a cause of the fire.
Video U/D from scene USDA building 426 in Beltsville. Building and several vehicles involved. PGFD pic.twitter.com/qpd7zd84IE
— Mark Brady (@PGFDPIO) September 6, 2016
Last week, the Agriculture Department closed six of its facilities in five states, including the Beltsville campus, after multiple employees received anonymous threatening messages. All of the facilities were reopened within a couple of days.
In an email to employees, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said USDA closed the offices “due to the serious nature of these threats.”
There has been no indication so far of any link between the threats and this morning’s fire.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Mark Brady/Twitter)
