Steve Burns

WMAL.com

BETHESDA – (WMAL) Montgomery County firefighters worked to evacuate around 700 people from the Promenade Towers high-rise apartment building on Pooks Hill Road in Bethesda on Saturday morning. A fire spokesman said fire from a transformer in the building’s garage was sending smoke up into the building forcing evacuations.

Six people had been taken to the hospital as of mid-morning Saturday, Battalion Chief Michael Leigh said.

Calls first came in for the fire around 9 a.m., and the response was quickly ratcheted up to three alarms to aid in the evacuations, Leigh said. He said tight quarters in the garage were making it challenging to get the transformer fire completely out, and firefighters are also working to ventilate the building itself. Crews were still working to identify the power source to disconnect power to the transformer, Leigh said.

This is a developing story. Stay with WMAL for updates.

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