New York Daily News – by Sasha Goldstein
A massive Annapolis, Md., mansion burned to the ground early Monday, sending authorities sifting through the still-smoking wreckage of the $14 million residence in a desperate search for the home’s owners.
The 16,000-square-foot home on Childs Point Road was mostly reduced to rubble after the blaze raged out of control for some four hours after the call first came in at 3:30 a.m., the Capital Gazette reported.
Owners Don and Sandy Pyle are unaccounted for and were “more than likely” inside when the 4-alarm blaze broke out, a spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department told WJLA-TV. Four grandchildren may have been home with the couple, according to the TV station.
RUSS DAVIES/@AACOUNTYFIREPIOThe blaze broke out around 3:30 a.m. Monday and brought some 85 firefighters to battle the fire.“There’s a possibility that they’re out of town,” Capt. Russ Davies, a fire department spokesman, told the Gazette. “But we are operating under the premise that there (were) people inside.”
While tax records indicate the home is worth $6.2 million, a law firm associated with the company insuring the home pegged its value at $13.9 million, according to the Gazette.
4 NBC WASHINGTONThe multi-million dollar home was owned by the chief operating officer of a suburban Washington, D.C., IT company.Don Pyle, 55, is the chief operating officer ScienceLogic, an IT company based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Reston, Va. He and his wife Sandy have two adult sons, according to the Gazette.
Some 85 firefighters battled the blaze after it broke out on the second floor of the two story home, which was built in 2005 and boasts seven bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms. Davies described the structure as sustaining “multiple millions” of dollars in damage.
RUSS DAVIES/@AACOUNTYFIREPIOThe shell of the home was still smoking into the early afternoon Monday.Because of the severe damage and instability of the remaining structure, firefighters have not been able to search the scene by Monday afternoon as hot spots continued to spring up.
Some reports indicated the Pyles were out of town, but officials have had no luck contacting the family.
It’s unclear how many people total lived in the mansion, some 30 miles east of Washington, D.C.
The couple were known to distraught neighbors as “genuinely nice people” who often held social events at the home.
“When my husband died, I was in a state of shock, but Don said, ‘How can I help you?'” Caroline Wugofski told the Gazette. “If you needed a good friend, they would step in.”
I didn’t know the people, but if they owned a 14 million dollar home, I’m probably glad they’re dead.
But that’s not really fair. Not all rich people are evil, but it is a good bet.
14 mil, and they couldn’t afford a decent fire extinguishing sprinkler system?
Obviously too stupid to survive AFTER the SHTF, if they couldn’t figure out that much beforehand.