TANEYTOWN, Md. — A fire in the two-story house on George Street in Taneytown started just after 2:00 in the morning on Thursday and spread quickly through the structure.
“I woke up and I saw an orange glow out my window,” said Kaleb Brown who lives directly across the street from the house, “I jumped up real quick and looked across the street and then the neighbors’ house---the flames were shooting out from the bottom of the house.”
'Smoke Alarms Save Lives' in Taneytown
It’s believed the fire started in the living room on the ground floor and quickly climbed to the second floor where a couple was fast asleep.
“Their bedroom is upstairs, so they didn’t even know the house was on fire until the bedroom fire alarm had gone off,” said Randy Lookingbill, one of the victims’ neighbors, “and they opened up the door and flames just gushed in.”
The victims were able to crawl out of a window and make their way out on a small, sloped roof to safely reach the ground.
Investigators still aren’t certain what sparked the fire, but there’s no evidence it was anything other than an accident.
“They have an idea it might either be a lamp or electric heater,” another neighbor, Pamela Hartman, told us.
The only thing certain is that the couple escaped with their lives thanks to working smoke alarms, and while the family lost most of its possessions, it was fortunate that its most vulnerable members weren’t home at the time.
“He’s got four kids and luckily, they weren’t there. They were out at his Mom’s house,” said Lookingbill, “I’m glad the kids weren’t in there. They’ve got some young ones.I think like five and six.”
