GLEN BURNIE, Md. — A man is dead and two others are critically injured after a Thursday overnight fire in Glen Burnie.
Two families, one lives upstairs, the other lives down in the basement, are now bonded by a common tragedy.
"The coldest night of the year and then, unfortunately, we've had this tragedy on top of that," said Capt. Russ Davies of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.
When the smell of smoke reached Tanya Terry and her husband as they settled in for the night on Wellham Avenue on Wednesday, they had no idea their lives, and those of their house mates downstairs, had already been placed in jeopardy.
"He heard her screaming over there, and he went back outside and pulled Amanda and Joey out from that side door and Amanda was like, 'George! George is stuck in there still!'” said Tanya Terry, “So my husband went through this front door all the way to the basement door to try to get him, but the flames were too high."
A glimpse into the charred remains of that basement shows the extent of the fire and smoke, which trapped the family until firefighters could arrive.
"They made entry into the basement and removed three people from the basement,” said Davies, “One of them was a male who was in his 40s. He was transported to a local hospital, Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where unfortunately he died from his injuries."
Paramedics also transported a 32-year-old woman and her 5-year-old son to hospitals in Baltimore with critical injuries.
"My son's back of his hair is all singed off, because he kept going down in the basement to save Amanda and Joey and I guess they're in pretty bad shape,” said Sheila Najera, “The baby's face is burned up. His arms are burned up. They've got him on a breathing tube. Amanda---her arms are all burned up and she's in bad condition as well."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation at this point, and firefighters say they found no working smoke alarms at the scene.
