Fire broke out Monday in a fire truck sent to a building fire in downtown Silver Spring, and the truck appeared to be more severely damaged than the building.
Damage to the building was estimated at $150,000, and truck damage was put at $200,000, authorities said.
The building fire started in or near a heating-ventilating-air-conditioning unit on the roof of a two-story commercial building in the 8200 block of Georgia Avenue, said Beth Anne Nesselt, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County fire and rescue service.
It was accidental, she said.
The Urban Butcher restaurant is on the first floor of the building. It did not appear that the restaurant was damaged, but restaurant officials could not be reached immediately to confirm.
The fire, which was reported about 5 p.m., shut down part of busy Georgia Avenue for a time and onlookers watched as smoke billowed into the air. during the afternoon rush hour.
“I was sitting in my office when I heard an explosion,” a woman said in an e-mail. She said she immediately phoned 911 from her office at the nearby Meditation Museum.
Meanwhile, Nesselt said, firefighters on a ladder truck that was headed to the fire pulled over after fire broke out in the cab area. The fire, which was spotted near University Boulevard and Piney Branch Road, was put out and is being investigated, Nesselt said.
No injuries were reported in either fire.
