Victims of Severn fatal fire identified

The cause of the fire that killed three people in Severn on Saturday night remains under investigation by members of the Anne Arundel County Fire and Explosives Investigation Unit. Investigators remained on the scene Saturday night until the middle of the afternoon Sunday. They are being assisted by members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who bring additional assets to the investigation. The cause of the fire remains undetermined. Investigators are still requesting that anyone with video or pictures from the fire, especially before the arrival of firefighters, contact them at 410-222-TIPS.

The deceased have been positively identified and next of kin notified:

Walter McCardell, 61, resident
William Garcia, 44, resident
Barbara Brown, 65, employee, a resident of Brooklyn

Just after 10:45 p.m. on Saturday, Anne Arundel County 9-1-1 began receiving multiple calls reporting a home on fire in the 7900 block of Stone Hearth Road. The first arriving firefighters reported heavy fire from the rear of the single-family dwelling. Occupants of the home who had been alerted by working smoke alarms and escaped before firefighters arrived advised them that someone was possibly still inside. Firefighters immediately made entry and removed one adult who was declared deceased on the scene. During additional searches, two more adult victims were found deceased. Four other occupants escaped without injury.

The fire was extinguished in about an hour by 45 firefighters from Anne Arundel County, Fort Meade and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The three fatalities are the first fire related deaths in Anne Arundel County in 2018.

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