By Alex Mann
Baltimore Sun
CUMBERLAND, Md. — An inmate and a correctional officer were hospitalized after a fire Tuesday night inside of a cell at a state prison in Western Maryland, officials say.
Correctional officers at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland “were alerted to smoke coming from one of the tiers in the facility” around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, said Lowell Mesler, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
The guards responded to the tier and found a fire inside an inmate’s cell, Mesler said.
“The entire tier was evacuated,” he said.
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Maryland State Police flew the inmate, a 43-year-old man, to the burn center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore , Mesler said. The man remained hospitalized as of Wednesday afternoon.
An ambulance took a correctional officer to a local hospital, where he was treated for smoke inhalation and discharged, Mesler said.
“Six additional correctional officers went to an area hospital, on their own, at the conclusion of their shifts seeking attention for minor injuries,” Mesler said.
He added that investigators are looking into the cause of the fire.
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