The blaze started in a waste hopper on the east side of a warehouse building packed with sawdust, See said.

The fire department did not identify the injured firefighters, although people familiar with the scene said they were Chris O'Barsky, Zack Bridges and Richard Rathel, a lieutenant.

O'Barsky and Bridges were treated at Peninsula Regional Medical Center and released, a hospital spokesman said.

Rathel was transferred to the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, where a spokesman said he was undergoing treatment.

State fire marshals have already begun investigating the cause of the fire.

Reprinted with permission from Todd Dudek – Daily Times

Updated: December 24, 2005

With a Fire Department lieutenant's discharge from a burn treatment center, all three Salisbury firefighters who were scorched in a blaze at Maxum Yachts have now been released from medical care.

Lt. Richard Rathel, who had been treated overnight Wednesday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, came back Thursday to a "Welcome Home" banner at a Salisbury fire station. Two other firefighters, Chris O'Barsky and Zack Bridges, were released from Peninsula Regional Medical Center after a few hours of treatment for injuries sustained during the Wednesday morning fire.

Fire department spokesman Steve Dickerson said Rathel was in good spirits after his hospital stay. The entire department was relieved that all three firefighters were expected to make full recoveries, Dickerson said, after battling a fire that led to an unusually high number of simultaneous injuries.

"Three firefighters with burn injuries is not normal," Dickerson said. "It's definitely uncommon. I've been with the department for about eight years, and I can't remember anything remotely like that."

Rathel could return to duty in about a month's time, Dickerson said, and O'Barsky and Bridges may be able to return earlier, if they are cleared by a departmental physician.

The fire department has posted a detailed account of how responders fought the fire on its Web site, salisburyfd.com.

Photos by Todd Dudek
Written by James Fisher