A 9-year-old boy died Tuesday morning after a fire at a single-family home in Suitland, the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department said.
The blaze at a two-story home on the 5800 block of Auth Road started around 1:43 a.m. Tuesday, the fire department posted on X.
Firefighters got the unidentified boy out of the house and transported him to a hospital in critical condition. Hospital personnel pronounced him dead on arrival.
The boy’s mother escaped the house safely after being saved by her neighbor, Henry Scurry. He said he was unable to go back for the boy.
“And when I put my hand up on the ledge to pull myself in, it was too hot. I couldn’t get in there. It was … I just couldn’t do it,” Mr. Scurry told WTTG.
Two county firefighters went to a hospital and received treatment for minor burns before being released, a department spokesperson told WTOP-FM.
Fire investigators said they believe the home didn’t have working smoke detectors, according to WJLA-TV. The investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blaze.
Firefighters got the fire under control within 15 minutes of arriving, Assistant Fire Chief Caroll Spriggs told WDVM-TV, and the fire was extinguished early Tuesday.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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