Mother dies in early morning fire in Prince George's County

BELTSVILLE, Md. - Officials say a woman has died after a fire in a historic Prince George's County farmhouse early Saturday morning.

Investigators say at around 3:30 a.m., officials received calls from neighbors for a fire at the 11400 block of Howard Court in Beltsville.

Officials say heavy fire was coming from a two-story single family home. Prince George's County fire says because of the size of the fire, crews had to move from inside to the outside of the home to work to extinguish it.

After the fire was out, investigators say they went into the home and found a woman inside and were able to get her out, but she was pronounced dead on the scene.

Prince George's County says fire investigators confirmed that the children of the deceased were staying with other family members overnight.

Officials have not released the identity of the woman, pending an autopsy.

According to officials, the home was built in the 1920s and was the original farmhouse for the property, in a development where single-family homes now exist behind Behnke Nursery off of Baltimore Avenue.

Prince George's County fire says with the help of a Task Force, it took 60 firefighters nearly 90 minutes to extinguish the fire.

Investigators say the cause and origin of the fire is currently under investigation, but through preliminary investigation, they believe the fire started toward the back of the home. Officials estimate damages from the fire at $200,000.

Officials say they have not been able to confirm if there was a working smoke alarm in the home. They say responding firefighters and command officers did not hear a smoke alarm and one could not locate one after the fire was out.