Annapolis Mansion Fire: Grim Anniversary Marks Six Deaths

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Tuesday’s grim milestone – one year since the fire deaths of Don and Sandra Pyle, as well as that of four of their visiting grandchildren – will be marked by one family member with advocacy.

Don Pyle’s sister, Sher Grogg, planned to attend a legislative reception to push for required fire sprinklers in homes. The Annapolis-area mansion the Pyles perished in didn’t have sprinklers, which might have bought some of the family time to escape the inferno created when a tinder-dry Christmas tree caught fire Jan. 19, 2015.

Don Pyle, a Reston, VA, software executive, tried to put out the fire that consumed the home’s great room and blocked a staircase from the second-floor bedrooms. Meanwhile, Sandra Pyle went to help the grandchildren in the guest bedrooms, investigators said.

“They were going to get all the children,” she told the Capital-Gazette. “Nobody was going to leave there unless they had everybody.”

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Grogg has joined Common Voices, a group of advocates, burn survivors and others who have lost family members in fires.

The group educates people on the importance of home fire sprinklers; her brother’s spacious house didn’t have them.

Grisly Fire Scene One Year Ago

The 15-foot Christmas tree fueled the January 2015 fire that killed the Pyles and four of their grandchildren, who were staying overnight. Investigators said the family was trapped by smoke and flames when an electrical fire spread to the tree in the $4.2 million mansion in the 900 block of Childs Point Road.

Donald Pyle was chief operating officer at ScienceLogic in Virginia. The grandchildren killed were Alexis Boone, 8; Kaitlyn Boone, 7; Charlotte Boone, 8; and Wesley Boone, 6. The Boone children are the grandchildren of Sandra Pyle and the step-grandchildren of Don Pyle.

Fire investigators agree the fire started under or near the tree in the house’s great room and spread in less than a minute to the second floor, where all the victims were sleeping. The medical examiner ruled the family members died of smoke inhalation and burns in the accidental blaze.

Firefighters described the fire in the home’s foyer as a “kiln” and were unable to enter the house because of the intense heat and flames.

About five minutes after firefighters arrived at the house, the front door was completely consumed by fire, the great room was engulfed in fire and the roof was starting to collapse, the report says.

In the following days firefighters sifted through the rubble by hand to find the bodies of the family. Don Pyle was found in the great room near the Christmas tree, while his wife and grandchildren were found in second-floor bedrooms.

The large tree’s lights were left on around the clock, the report said, noting the tree was cut down two months before the fire. The Pyles both wanted to keep the tree in the great room longer because they felt like they hadn’t had a chance to enjoy it, although it was dropping needles and branches were drooping. The tree was scheduled to be removed on Jan. 20.

“Our collective hearts break for the tragedy you have to bear,” Anne Arundel County Fire Chief Alan Graves said to the surviving family members in August when the investigation was completed.

Special agent in charge Bill McMullin with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said, “This fire was the result of a tragic accident that happened at the absolute worst time, when the Pyles and their grandkids were sleeping.”

»Fire scene photos from the Anne Arundel County Fire Department’s Facebook page; family members photos via screenshot from WBAL TV

Investigation Into Fatal Fire