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It was a busy day for first responders in Carroll County on Monday, Feb. 20, as they were called into action at a Westminster hotel before a family reported a fire at a Taneytown townhouse, both involving failing smoke alarms.
The day began shortly after 8:30 a.m., when the Westminster Volunteer Fire Department and neighboring agencies were called to the Boston Inn on Baltimore Boulevard, after other guests reported smoke coming from one of the rooms.
When firefighters arrived, officials say they found a nearly self-extinguished fire and a 48-year-old man inside who was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders. His body was later transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be identified and determine the cause of death.
Hours later, at approximately 2:20 p.m., crews from the Taneytown Volunteer Fire Company and surrounding departments were called to a two-story home on Daisy Drive with a possible victim trapped inside.
Officials said that a mother and her 3-year-old daughter had escaped, but the family grandmother was trapped upstairs. Firefighters were all to locate the 68-year-old woman on the second floor, and she was transported to Carroll Hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
Investigators determined that the fire started on the second floor where the woman was trapped, but it is unclear what the cause of the blaze was.
Both fatal fires are under investigation.
Geraci confirmed that both incidents are unrelated, saying that “they are rare but tragic coincidences, and they have no evidence of arson in either of the investigations.”
In both cases, smoke alarms were present, he said, but for reasons unknown reasons, neither was activated.
“You only have minutes from the sound of the first smoke alarm to escape a fire," he said.
”Please, make sure you check your smoke alarms today. The sooner you hear an alarm, the sooner you can get out, and the better chance you and your family have to escape. It can be a matter of life or death for you and your loved ones.”
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