Tuesday, December 14, 2010
A fire in a two-story house killed six people — three children and three adults — in Baltimore, Maryland early this morning. The fire also spread to three adjacent houses.
According to a Baltimore Fire Department official, Kevin Cartwright, the fire was reported just before 5 am local time (1000 UTC). Firefighters arrived on the scene and entered the building to extinguish the flames, however gusty winds of 30–40 miles per hour fueled the fire and forced them to exit.
Cartwright said that once the fire was extinguished, firefighters reentered the building and found five bodies. Further searches revealed a sixth body. Cartwright was unsure of the victims’ ages or identities, but neighbors revealed that the occupants were an elderly husband and wife, their granddaughter and their three great-grandchildren. A neighbor, Karen Lane, identified the couple as Richard and Eleanor Satterfield and the granddaughter as Tiara.
Investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire. The cause of death is suspected to be smoke inhalation, however the Coroner’s Office has not disclosed the official cause of death. It is also unclear whether the house had smoke detectors.