County's Second Fire Death Within 48 Hours Comes Christmas Morning

An elderly Capitol Heights woman died in an early Christmas morning fire when her son could not make it through the smoke and flames to rescue her.

Prince George’s County fire crews and paramedics were called about 2:15 a.m. Thursday to a two-story duplex on fire in the 900 block of Booker Drive. The woman was trapped on the second floor.

Preliminary investigation indicates the fire started on the first floor. A working smoke alarm detected smoke and emitted a warning signal to the occupants, which awoke a man in the home. He tried to reach his 87-year-old mother, however, the intense heat and thick smoke was too much and he left the home.

After the fire was extinguished, firefighters found the woman and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

This is the second fatal house fire in two days in the county. An 83-year-old Bowie man removed by Prince George’s County firefighters from a burning Bowie home on Christmas Eve died from burns he suffered. That house fire happened in the 5700 block of Park Drive.

In the Christmas Eve blaze, the house did not have a working smoke alarm, authorities said.

The cause of the Christmas Day fire is under investigation and fire loss estimates are still being tabulated.

Firefighters on Friday afternoon will go door-to-door in the Booker Drive neighborhood and answer questions residents may have about the fire and check to ensure everyone is protected by a working smoke alarm and has a home escape plan.

Firefighters will also return at 11 a.m. to the Bowie neighborhood where the elderly man died. Fire Chief Marc Bashoor will provide comments and updates on both fires at the Bowie location.

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