Six family members are missing after a fire ripped through a 16,000-square-feet mansion in Annapolis, Md., on Monday, NBC Washington reported.
"From the family, we know who's unaccounted for," Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Russ Davies said, though he wouldn't comment on who specifically had not been found. "If you look at the damage, you know, it would not be a stretch to think that if there were occupants that they did not survive the fire."
Previously, Davies said that the occupants of the burned home may have been away.
The fire was reported by an alarm company and a neighbor around 3:30 a.m. When emergency crews arrived, they found flames and smoke throughout the entire home.
"We heard two thuds and this shot of flame went shooting high in the sky, and we thought, Oh my God, what's that?" neighbor Azalea Leckszas said.
Police haven't been able to get inside the rubble to search yet. It's not yet known what caused the fire, but there were apparently no sprinklers in the home. The earliest they'll be able to get inside is likely on Tuesday, WUSA 9 reported.
"There is potential, if we locate people, that there are fatalities inside. And since we don't know the circumstances it would be considered an unintended death," Davies said. "From interviews with family, the reasonable assumption at this point is they were inside the home. Our primary focus is the dwelling but that doesn't mean we've given up on any other avenues."
