Official: Relatives believe family was in mansion for fire

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By BRIAN WITTE and KASEY JONES

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Relatives of six family members who remain unaccounted for after a massive fire gutted a waterfront mansion believe they were inside at the time of the blaze, a fire official said Tuesday.

The charred multimillion-dollar mansion near Maryland's capital is the focus of the search for the six missing family members, said Capt. Russ Davies, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.

Davies has declined to identify the family members. On Tuesday, he wouldn't give further details about what their relatives said or why they believe the family was inside the mansion.

Davies said a search for the missing family members will begin when crews stabilize the wreckage and pump out tens of thousands of gallons of water from the basement — likely Wednesday.

FULL story at link.



CORRECTS SOURCE - A group of women gather outside the gate of a home following a fire in Childs Point Road, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015, in Annapolis, Md. Six people, at first thought to be out of town, were unaccounted for Monday night after the fire that gutted the seven bedroom, 7 1/2 bath home. (AP Photo/Capital Gazette, Tim Pratt)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150120/us--mansion_fire-dba8bca991.html

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Sorry for the dead but, if you have a 4.2 million dollar home

you can afford some smoke detectors, and fire escapes. It's just flat out ridiculous that someone in that position not be able to escape.*


*Barring foul play.

[LiberalArkie]

2. And that big of a house and can't get out.. Surely the fire did not start at all the exits at the

time.

[Demeter]

4. I rather doubt anyone was alive when the fire started

This sounds like a serious crime scene, not an accident.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. +1

[Lochloosa]

10. At the link....

The fire was reported about 3:30 a.m. Monday by an alarm monitoring company and a neighbor who spotted flames at the mansion.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Actually, it points to a possible cause.

Specifically; foul play.

It is incredibly unlikely for 6 ambulatory humans to be trapped in a large structure like that, from a 'natural' fire.

[uppityperson]

8. thank you for clarifying and apologies for reading that the wrong way.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. Well, I do have to admit...

I was being a bit snarky.

If it turns out to have been just a tragic fire, I'll feel bad for that post.

[greyl]

13. While sleeping, they could have been overcome by fumes related to the fire. nt

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Limited number of possible causes.

A VERY badly malfunctioning central heating system could do it. Not much else. Otherwise, what are the odds not a single person is woken by smoke alarms? The home monitoring system fired off ok, notified the fire department. That's got a siren of its own.

[librechik]

16. "officials said no evidence of foul play"

but they haven't made their investigation yet

[Raine1967]

7. This is just a horrible sad story.

Was all over local news yesterday, and it really sound alike the entire family perished.

[Tatiana]

9. Wow. Sounds like arson to me.

The people inside were probably already gone.

Mafia?

[Marthe48]

12. So sad for the family

n/t

[LibertyLover]

15. I live right across South River from where the fire took place

but not, I might add, in a 16,000 square foot house . Monday we were going up to our storage unit in Gambrills and had to drive over the South River bridge. You could see the smoking remains of the house quite clearly. I have to say that my first thought on hearing the news was murder-suicide with deliberate arson. Understand, I have no "inside" information or anything, just that the sequence of events with the detection of the fire for that pricey a home seemed off to me. I grieve for the children.