A Prince George’s County firefighter was hospitalized with minor injuries after fighting an Upper Marlboro townhouse fire Friday evening, fire officials said.

Mark Brady, a spokesman for the county’s Fire/EMS Department, said that at 7:15 p.m. firefighters responded to a fire in an end-unit townhouse in the 4700 block of Colonel Ashton Place in Upper Marlboro.

Firefighters extinguished the fire, which was on the second floor and roof of the home, in about 15 minutes, Brady said. The cause of the fire appeared to be a “malfunctioning fireplace,” he said.

The fire is estimated to have caused $85,000 in damage, and the family was displaced and is being assisted by the fire department’s Citizen Services Unit, Brady said. One firefighter cut his hand while fighting the blaze, and was treated and released from a local hospital.

Firefighters responded to a second fire, at 12:30 a.m. today , but determined the building was too dangerous to enter.

The fire at a two-story house on the 15400 block of Livingston Road in Accokeek was “well-advanced,” with flames visible on the first and second floors and through the roof, when firefighters arrived, Brady said.

A department safety officer and department services commander Lt. Col. Ben Barksdale determined the fire was too unsafe for firefighters to enter the building, Brady said.

“You have to weigh the potential for injury, so its a risk-benefit situation,” Brady said. “So you determine whether there’s any benefit to risking firefighters’ lives. Here we knew that all family members were accounted for and the potential for injury was high.”

The home is considered a total loss — about $250,000 — and the family has been displaced and is being assisted by the department’s Citizen Services Unit, Brady said.

The fire, which took 45 minutes to extinguish, is under investigation, but appeared to originate from a car fire in the house’s attached carport, he said.

ewagner@gazette.net