House Fire, Ducklings Mark an Interesting Week for Martinsburg Fire Department

If you compared the week the Martinsburg Volunteer Fire Company had to a relief pitcher, the crew would be well on their way to the Hall of Fame with one loss and eight saves in the span of seven days.

Of course, the stakes are much higher when firefighters are called on, and with lives and property being their balls and strikes, the Martinsburg crew were able to knock down a fire that had claimed the building by the time they arrived on scene and turn around and save the lives of eight ducklings stuck in a drain.

On Sunday, May 7, crews were called out to an active fire at 2794 Cove Mountain Road at about 9:20 a.m. Martinsburg Chief Randy Acker said the fire was extinguished within 15 minutes of firefighters arriving, but the unoccupied structure was a total loss.

Acker said the State Police Fire Marshall is investigating, but it appears the fire started when a leak in the propane line leading to the stove was ignited by the pilot light.

The house was the scene of a double homicide in January 2019 and has been unoccupied since. Online records show the house was sold in 2022 for $28,000 at the Blair County Tax Claim Upset Sale.

Seven days after keeping a house fire from spreading, crews were called to West Allegheny St. in Martinsburg on the afternoon of May 14 for a report of ducklings in a drain. Rescue crews pulled all eight baby ducks safely from the drain.

Acker said the fire department gets called out just about every spring to pull ducklings from drains. Duckling drain rescues are common throughout rural America this time of year and most likely happen when following their mothers across the street. The ducklings are too small to hop the curb to the sidewalk and walk alongside it where drains are located and fall through.