Maryland State Fire Marshal
News Release
Martin O’Malley Governor
Brian S. Geraci State Fire Marshal
LEXINGTON PARK FATAL FIRE INVESTIGATION ST.MARY’S COUNTY, MD (April 16, 2014) – The Office of the State Fire Marshal and the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office are conducting an investigation into a fatal fire that claimed the life of, Marion W. Gatton (81) and injured two adults during a fire at 19555 Three Notch Road in Lexington Park. The 1:16 p.m. one alarm blaze was brought under control within 30 minutes by nearly 55 firefighters from Bay District, Ridge, Hollywood, 2nd District, St. Leonard, 7th District and Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Departments. First responders located the unconscious victim inside her bedroom and were not able to revive her after valiant efforts. The victims’ caretaker, Delores Pennington (47) located a fire in the kitchen and was not able to control the flames. She received burn injuries to her hands before escaping the heavy smoke. An active duty U.S. Marine, Jon Spindler was in the area and tried to make entry to assist the victim inside the bedroom and received moderate smoke inhalation injuries before escaping the blaze. Both Pennington and Spindler were transported to the Medstar St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The body of the victim was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for determination of cause of death. The cause for the fire remains under investigation at this time. ###
The Office of the State Fire Marshal is an agency of the Department of State Police dedicated to helping protect citizens from fire and explosion through a comprehensive program of education, inspection, investigation and fire protection engineering. For more information on fire safety call 1-800-525-3124, log onto our website at: www.mdsp.org/firemarshal and/or http://facebook.com/MarylandStateFireMarshal. Media contact: Bruce D. Bouch, Deputy State Fire Marshal; 443-324-6876
1201 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, MD 21208