ROBY CHAVEZ
WTTG
Reprinted with Permission

COTTAGE CITY, Md. - Investigators are looking into the possibility that window air conditioning units are to blame for a massive house fire in Cottage City, Md.


The fire broke out just after 4 p.m. Tuesday at the home of longtime Cottage City Town Commissioner William Hall, Sr., located next to the Town Hall.

Technicians were supposed to show up at this house Wednesday to install central air because of problems with window units.

The 78-year-old Hall was forced to run the air conditioners because of the extreme temperatures. It nearly cost him his life to keep cool.

For Hall, it is not just a home in ruins; it is an entire life destroyed.

"It's very devastating to me. I got lots of antique stuff. My wife passed away 15 years ago and here I had all of her stuff from years back. Things I cherished and I lost everything now and there’s nothing else I can do," said Hall.

Hall has been a Cottage City Town Commissioner for 20 years. The former longtime firefighter was asleep when the fire broke out. His smoke alarm woke him up.

"The flames were coming up really high. I said ‘Oh my God. The house is on fire.’ Man, when I got out here, flames were really coming out that window and it started melting the side of the house," explained Hall.

Relatives say a small window air conditioning unit points to a possible culprit. Hall’s daughter says he had just decided hours earlier to replace the window units because they were problematic.

"My brother came to make sure everything was OK and told [Hall] maybe we should put some central air [in Hall’s house] because it was tripping the circuit breakers. But he checked everything and everything was OK this morning at about 9 o'clock. That's how fast something can happen," said Kathy Gilbertz, Hall's daughter.

Hall believes he made the mistake of using extension cords to run the small window units to keep cool on this 100-degree day because he is a senior who suffers with a heart condition. Now he's having second thoughts.

"Especially when it’s 100 degrees out here and you're running all kinds of cords here and there. You've got to think again. I want folks to know not to use wiring or extension cords or stuff like that to run air conditioning. You don't need that," said Hall.

Now after a life of service to this community, he is the one in need.

"I did all this work for this town to help seniors and help people in town that needed it. And here I am, I need it myself now," said Hall.

For a while, there was a scare that Hall's dog was inside the home, but he actually wanted to be outside because it was hot inside the house.

The fire department has not determined an official cause of the fire.