UPDATE 4/23/2018 12:00 p.m.:
MILLERSVILLE, Md. – The cause of the fire that killed three people in Severn on Saturday night remains under investigation by members of the Anne Arundel County Fire and Explosives Investigation Unit. Investigators remained on the scene Saturday night until the middle of the afternoon Sunday. They are being assisted by members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who bring additional assets to the investigation. The cause of the fire remains undetermined. Investigators are still requesting that anyone with video or pictures from the fire, especially before the arrival of firefighters, contact them at 410-222-TIPS.
The deceased have been positively identified and next of kin notified:
Walter McCardell, 61, resident
William Garcia, 44, resident
Barbara Brown, 65, employee, a resident of Brooklyn
Just after 10:45 p.m. on Saturday, Anne Arundel County 9-1-1 began receiving multiple calls reporting a home on fire in the 7900 block of Stone Hearth Road. The first arriving firefighters reported heavy fire from the rear of the single-family dwelling. Occupants of the home who had been alerted by working smoke alarms and escaped before firefighters arrived advised them that someone was possibly still inside. Firefighters immediately made entry and removed one adult who was declared deceased on the scene. During additional searches, two more adult victims were found deceased. Four other occupants escaped without injury.
The fire was extinguished in about an hour by 45 firefighters from Anne Arundel County, Fort Meade and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The three fatalities are the first fire related deaths in Anne Arundel County in 2018.
MILLERSVILLE, Md. – Three people have been killed in an overnight fire in a Severn dwelling used as a group home.
Just after 10:45 p.m. Anne Arundel County 9-1-1 began receiving multiple calls reporting a home on fire in the 7900 block of Stone Hearth Road. The first arriving firefighters reported heavy fire from the rear of the single-family dwelling. Occupants of the home who had escaped before firefighters arrived advised them that someone was still possibly inside. Firefighters immediately made entry and removed one adult who was declared deceased on the scene. During additional searches, two more adult victims were found deceased. Four other occupants escaped without injury.
The deceased include two adult male residents and one female worker at the home operated by the Arundel Lodge. The deceased have been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for positive identification and autopsy. Identities will be released once the victims are positively identified and notifications are made to families.
The fire was extinguished in about an hour by 45 firefighters from Anne Arundel County, Fort Meade and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Members of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department Fire and Explosives Investigation Unit remained on the scene overnight. It has been determined that there were working smoke alarms in the home. The cause of the fire is undetermined and under investigation. Investigators are requesting that anyone with video or pictures from the fire contact them at 410-222-TIPS.