13295 St. Georges Lane
House Fire
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| MOUNT SAVAGE - A Friday morning house fire at 13000 St. George's Lane claimed the life of John William Finzel Sr., 85, according to Deputy State Fire Marshal Jason Mowbray. Several neighbors tried to alert Finzel to the fire and walked around the perimeter of the burning house yelling for him, Mowbray said, adding Finzel was the sole occupant of the house. “I just saw a lot of smoke, and about five minutes after I called 911, the whole house was in flames,” said Christie Bohn, Finzel's next-door neighbor who reported the fire at 9:13 a.m. Friday. Finzel was discovered by firefighters in an added living area in the rear of the two-story, wood-frame home, according to W. Faron Taylor, media representative for the state fire marshal's office. Assisted by Maryland State Police, a team of deputy state fire marshals will continue to investigate to determine the origin and cause of the fire, Taylor said. To determine the exact cause of death, the body will be sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore where an autopsy will be performed, which is a standard procedure when dealing with fatal fires, said Mowbray. The fire, which destroyed the residence, took firefighters approximately 30 minutes to control, according to Rick Robison, chief of the Mount Savage Volunteer Fire Department. The two neighboring houses sustained exterior damage - the siding melted on one house and windows broke on the other, said Elwood Lashley, Mount Savage's deputy chief. Damage to the Finzel home is estimated at $75,000. It is unknown if the home was equipped with a working smoke alarm system, the fire marshal's office said.More than 50 firefighters from Mount Savage, Corriganville, Wellersburg (Pa.), LaVale, Frostburg, Ellerslie, Baltimore Pike, Eastern Garrett, Midland and Clarysville volunteer fire departments responded along with Allegheny Power and Columbia Gas. Members of the Shaft Volunteer Fire Department were on standby. One Corriganville firefighter sustained a minor hand injury and was treated at the scene |