Investigation Continues Into Fatal Bel Air House Fire

From the Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal:

A joint investigation continues between the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Harford County Sheriff’s Office after a fire claimed a person’s life Saturday morning.

Just after 7:00 a.m., Bel Air Volunteer Company firefighters and multiple nearby departments responded to 10 McGregor Way for a reported house fire. Initial reports indicated an elderly couple may have been inside. It was concluded the couple was not home; however, another family member may have been inside. It took firefighters nearly two hours to control the two-alarm blaze. Eventually, a large portion of the home collapsed.

With the assistance of excavators from the State Highway Administration, investigators located a victim within the home Sunday afternoon. The Office of the State Fire Marshal was requested to investigate the cause. The victim was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore to determine the exact cause of death and where the victim will be positively identified.

In cooperation with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, detectives assumed the death investigation, which is the standard operating procedure when a fatal fire occurs.

With the assistance of investigators assigned to the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal’s Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshals’ Major Incident Response Team (MIRT), they removed a large amount of debris on Monday morning in their search for the cause, which remains under investigation.