INCIDENT BACKGROUND
On Monday, January 19, 2015, a fire occurred at a residential dwelling located at 936 Childs Point Road, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland 21401. The residence was owned by Mr. Donald Pyle and Mrs. Sandra Pyle. The two-story occupied single family dwelling was approximately 16,386 square feet in size and sustained a complete loss to the structure and contents. The damage was estimated to be approximately $16 million to $18 million.
There was a monitored automatic fire alarm system which provided the initial notification to emergency 911. The first units arriving on the scene received conflicting reports about the status of the occupants of the dwelling; some reports indicating that they were home, and others suggesting they were out of town.
It was later determined that the two adult home owners, Donald (age 56) and Sandra (age 63), and their four grandchildren, Charlotte Boone, Wesley Boone, Alexis Boone and Kaitlyn Boone (ranging in ages 6 to 9 years old) were unaccounted for. The investigation ultimately concluded that all six individuals died as a result of the fire.
This document serves as the Executive Summary of the multi-agency investigation led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) and the Anne Arundel County Fire Department (AAFD). It summarizes over 60 separate reports consisting of approximately 500 pages of material documenting interviews, examinations, assessments and research conducted by
the 295 investigators who participated in the investigation.
CONCLUSION OF INVESTIGATION
Based on the information available to the investigators at the time of this report, and after the examination of the fire scene, reviewing witness statements, examining pre-fire and fire photographs and videos, reviewing research literature, conducting calculations and test burns in controlled environments, it is the opinion of all participating investigators that the fire originated under or near the Christmas tree in the Great Room.
Specifically, a probable high resistance connection inside the floor receptacle under the tree subsequently ignited the plastic sheet and/or decorative blanket/tree skirt, which in turn ignited the Christmas tree.
Numerous other hypothesis were identified and analyzed with all of them eventually being discarded. Based on the aforementioned, the fire investigators are in agreement that this fire is classified as an “Accidental” fire.
ATF Investigation # 761010-15-0026 / AAFD Investigation # 15-017 was officially closed onAugust 5, 2015 contemporaneous to the public distribution of this Executive Summary.