JOPPA, Md. — The owner of the two-story house on Anchor Drive in Joppa had just finished dinner with his mother and had gone for short walk, but when he returned, he found his home had become an inferno.
“He opened up the front door,” said Master Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire, “He said he had difficulty actually opening up the door. It’s a telltale sign that a fire is occurring inside. He opened up. Heavy smoke rolled out. He tried to enter, because he was trying to rescue his dog. However, he was forced out, because of heavy smoke and heat.”
Fire rips through two-story home in Joppa
Shortly after discovering the fire, a call went out to the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company and firefighters arrived here in numbers, some four dozen of them, and it took about half an hour to extinguish the flames.
The victim lost his pet, along with family photos, heirlooms and most of his belongings with damage to the house and its contents estimated at $750,000.
Even though the victim is convinced that nothing was left on inside the kitchen where investigators believe the fire started, he had used an air fryer to prepare his dinner.
It could have been caused by the air fryer or he could have inadvertently pushed that air fryer back against the knobs on that electric range and inadvertently turned that on,” said Alkire, “So we do see that from time to time or it could have just been an electrical failure of some sort.”
