Bel Air Couple's Home Destroyed, Son Killed In Fire While Parents In Hospital

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — A 48-year-old man died in a two-alarm house fire in Bel Air Saturday. Bel Air Volunteer Company firefighters, along with multiple neighboring departments, responded to 10 McGregor Way shortly after 7 a.m., where they found the home engulfed in flames.

A neighbor who identified himself as Dave told WBAL he heard a thump "powerful enough to slightly shake his house." He looked out the window and saw the house on fire, then sprinted over to help. It took firefighters nearly two hours to gain control of the fire and a large section of the home collapsed.

"I ran over there. We were trying to see if there was a way to get in to see if there were people inside. Within a minute, you couldn't be by the house," Dave said. "The smoke, at that point, the black smoke was immediately as high as the trees and coming out forward and everywhere."

At first, officials believed the elderly couple who lived there were inside the burning home, but they were not there. However, their son, identified only as Charlie, was believed to be in the basement. His remains were found Sunday, officials said.

According to WBAL, Charlie didn't live at the home, but visited frequently. His father hadn't been home as he's undergoing physical therapy and his mom was in the hospital having suffered three broken ribs in a car accident, WBAL said. Charlie stayed at his parents' home that weekend, a family member said.

"He was just the perfect son. He was just a good person, kind and helpful, and I couldn't have asked for a better son," Cindy, Charlie's mother, told WBAL. "I am 78 now, and he would fix holiday dinners, and we would see him every couple of weeks. He doesn't live in Harford County. He's just a good person. A good son. Always doing things for us."

With the assistance of investigators assigned to the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal's Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshals' Major Incident Response Team, they removed a large amount of debris Monday morning in their search for the cause, which remains under investigation.