Blaze destroys farm house

From Staff Reports

OAKLAND — An Oakland man was left homeless Wednesday when the farm house he lived in was destroyed by fire of an unknown origin.

Robert Smith discovered the fire in the two-story house where he lived at 209 Baker Farm Road at around 4:35 a.m.

Twenty-five firefighters from six local fire departments responded to the fire, which took one hour to contain, according to Deputy State Fire Marshal Ryan Chapman. No one was injured in the incident. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The house, owned by Stanley Black, was built prior to 1926 and is considered a total loss. Estimated costs in damage are $60,000 for the home and $10,000 for its contents.

Volunteer fire departments that responded were Oakland, Deer Park, Gorman, Deep Creek, Terra Alta, Bayard and Mount Grove. Southern Rescue Squad also responded.

Also on the scene were Allegheny Power, American Red Cross and the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office.

Also Wednesday, Oakland, Deer Park and Terra Alta fire departments and Southern Rescue Squad responded to a fire at Tressler’s Auto at 1477 Maryland Highway in Mountain Lake Park, according to Oakland Volunteer Fire Department reports.

Firefighters were alerted at 1:49 p.m. and were back at the station at 2:26 p.m.

No further information was available.