Three killed in fire at Severn group home

Four residents escape, apparently unharmed

Investigators visit the group home in Severn, near Fort Meade, where a fire killed two residents and an employee overnight Saturday. The cause of the fire is under investigation. No damage estimate has been given, but an official said the home is likely a total loss. (Joshua McKerrow/Baltimore Sun Media Group)

Two residents and an employee at the Arundel Lodge group home in Severn died in a fire at the home, Anne Arundel County fire officials said Sunday.

Firefighters responded to multiple calls about a fire in the 7900 block of Stone Hearth Road around 10:45 p.m. Saturday, Capt. Russ Davies said in a statement. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke coming from the back of the house.

Residents who had escaped the fire warned firefighters that someone might still be inside, Davies said.

Firefighters removed one resident, who was declared dead at the scene. Another resident and an employee were later found dead in the house. Four residents escaped the house with no reported injuries.

It took 45 firefighters from Anne Arundel, Fort Meade and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport about an hour to put the flames out, Davies said. The fire department’s Explosives Investigation Unit remained on the scene overnight and reported that there were working smoke alarms in the home. Firefighters reported hearing the alarms upon arrival, Davies said.

A neighbor across the street from the house said she saw the fire and heard three booms like an explosion. She said she could see people throwing oxygen tanks out of the house.

“All I could see was flames. People were hollering for help. It was awful,” Joyce Phillips said.

The dead, two male residents and a female employee, were taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for identification and autopsy. Their names have not been released.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. No damage estimate has been given, but Davies said the home is likely a total loss.

The house is one of Arundel Lodge’s 32 residential rehabilitation homes in the county, providing mental health and substance use treatment to more than 3,000 people a year.

In a statement from the nonprofit, Executive Director Mike Drummond said this is the first incident of its kind in the group’s 40-year history. Arundel Lodge is working with police and fire officials to investigate the fire and notify family members of victims, the statement said.

“This is an incredibly difficult day for all of us and we will be providing support to family, friends and staff as we all process this tragedy,” Drummond said.

[e-mail]