SEVERN, Md. — A 75-year-old woman has died following a Monday evening house fire in Severn.
Anne Arundel County Fire crews arrived in the 8200 block of Portsmouth Drive around 6:17pm, to find smoke coming from the windows.
The inside living room was found to be on fire, and upstairs, Joanne Marie Smith was in cardiac arrest.
Within 15 minutes firefighters extinguished the flames and pulled Smith from her home.
She died at the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m sure she has other relatives and that can be very devastating,” neighbor Harold Bridges said.
The fire was ruled accidental although the cause remains unclear.
Investigators estimate around $60,000 in damages.
Bridges said Smith largely kept to herself but, they would see her at the local grocery store and have pleasant conversations.
"Yeah, I've seen her off and on in passing," Bridges said. "Well, it's a loss for the neighborhood anytime someone passes, and I know her family is mourning now and my condolence out to her family. No one wants to lose a loved one, especially not like that."
Smith is the third Anne Arundel County resident this year to die in a fire.
