SILVER HILL, MD One person is dead and two other residents of the Carriage Hill Apartments in Suitland were injured after a three-alarm fire erupted early on Saturday, October 23, 2010.

Just before 4:30 am units from Silver Hill, Oxon Hill, District Heights and other surrounding departments were dispatched to the 3300 block of Curtis Dr in the Silver Hill section of the county for a report of an apartment building on fire with people trapped.

First arriving units reported heavy fire conditions on all floors of the three-story garden-style apartment building with several people trapped on their balconies. Firefighters from Oxon Hill Tower 821 along with firefighters from Morningside Station 827 used ground ladders to rescue the trapped residents.

Firefighters attempted to make an aggressive attack on the fire, but due to heavy fire conditions and a total collapse of the roof they were forced out of the building and had to attack the fire from the outside using ladder pipes

With heavy fire conditions throughout the building and the possibility of the fire extending into adjacent buildings a second and a third alarm was transmitted bringing over 100 firefighters to the scene. .

According to Mark Brady, Public Information Officer for PG Fire, two residents were transported to a local hospital suffering minor injuries; also two firefighters where transported to a local burn center for minor burns to their upper body.

By 7:00 am firefighters were able to bring the fire under control and were able to re-enter the building to due a secondary search and complete extinguishment of the fire, As firefighters were performing their search of the building they located the body of the 27-year-old male in a terrace level unit where fire investigators believe the fire started.

Over 24 families are displaced. The Departments Citizen Services Unit and Red Cross will be providing assistance to those residents

The cause of the fire is under investigation