Fire in Subbasement Kills Bethesda Woman

A 26-year-old Bethesda woman died in a house fire yesterday despite her mother's desperate efforts to rescue her, Montgomery County fire officials said.

Authorities said Elizabeth Lines-Browning, asleep in the subbasement, was to leave for Marine boot camp next month. Investigators said they think the fire started accidentally in the subbasement of the home, in the 6300 block of Kirby Road. Lines-Browning's mother, stepfather, two teenage sisters and grandmother were able to escape without injury but could not reach Lines-Browning.

Capt. Oscar Garcia, a spokesman for the Montgomery fire department, said the fire might have been caused by improperly discarded smoking materials or a candle left burning.

Yesterday, yellow caution tape hung across the front of the home on a quiet residential street off Whittier Boulevard, a few blocks from Walt Whitman High School. From the street, there was little sign of fire damage, and a black-and-white cat sat staring out the front window of the two-story brick home. A sign on the door said the building was unsafe to enter.

Around back sat a large pile of charred items, including a television set, a twin mattress and an office chair. The smell of smoke filled the air near shattered basement windows. Fire officials said the blaze was largely confined to the basement.

The fire was reported at 2:16 a.m. by Lines-Browning's mother, Garcia said. She told authorities that she had been awakened by a smoke alarm.

After rousing her two teenage daughters, who were also asleep on the second floor, the woman and her husband went to the first floor to wake up her mother, Garcia said. Once the teenagers and their grandmother were outside, the mother went back into the house and tried to get to the basement, where her oldest daughter slept.

But intense heat and smoke from the fire blocked her, he said.

Firefighters were able to enter the basement bedroom, where they found the woman dead.

Neighbors said the family had lived in the home for a few years. Officials estimated the damage at $15,000. Red Cross officials have provided counseling and temporary shelter to the family, Garcia said.

News researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.