MIDDLE RIVER, Md. — Heavy fire filled the second floor of the townhouse in the 2100 block of Cockspur Road in Middle River when a neighbor who will only identify himself by his first name, ‘Scott’, awoke to his smoke detector sounding and readied himself to evacuate.
“We were rushing to get out ourselves. I’m hearing him scream, ‘The fires on me!’”
A scream for help from a man known as ‘Cowboy’ who had scrambled out on to the roof.
“The fire came in his room and he was able to jump out of the window. He was able to move along the gutter there, and I was able to open my window, grab him and pull him through,” Scott told us. “and when I pulled him in, it felt as though his clothes were on fire at one point, because he was completely hot.”
When firefighters arrived, their mission was twofold---dousing the flames and searching for other potential victims.
“We have reports of multiple people inside,” said Baltimore County Fire Director Marcus Johnson. “We only have the one person that was able to self-extricate themselves so we are still doing searches upon the structure.”
Six hours after the initial call for help, firefighters emerged from the home with the body of an unidentified woman who was not able to make it out.
Fortunately, the fire stopped short of spreading into adjoining townhomes, and if not for the quick actions of a nextdoor neighbor, both of the occupants may have perished.
“I think it’s traumatic for all of us,” the Good Samaritan told us. “You never expect something like this. You wake up and the next thing you know you’re helping your neighbor get out of a fire. It’s sort of surreal, but again, we’re coping. Yes.”
The source of the fire is still under investigation.
