- Local every day in
Officials Investigate Fatal Fire at Main Street Thrift Shop
The Spare Room thrift shop is operated by the Westminster Rescue Mission.
Police are investigating an early Tuesday morning fire at a thrift shop operated by the Westminster Rescue Mission at 30 West Main St in Westminster. A deceased homeless woman's body was found in the fire at the back of the building, according to a police report.
Deputy State Fire Marshals, Maryland State Police and the Westminster Police Department are participating in the investigation.
At approximately 1:49 a.m. the Westminster Fire Department responded to the one alarm fire at the rear of the thrift shop structure and quickly located the remains of a body and clothing effects burning on the rear dock of the building, according to a police report.
Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the victim was determined to be deceased on the scene, according to a police report.
The cause for the fire remains under investigation. Damage to the structure is considered to be minimal. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine identity and cause of death.
The article was updated at 10:45 a.m. to reflect that the fire took place at the thrift shop owned by the Westminster Rescue Mission and not at the Westminster Rescue Mission itself which is located on Lucabaugh Mill Road.
Get the news in your inbox, subscribe to the Westminster Patch newsletter and follow Westminster Patch on Facebook.
Thanks. We'll email you the next time we update this story.
Mike B
4:06 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
I think Kim did a wonderful job updating this story to keep it as accurate as possible. She does a great job always.
Maryanna Plenger Wilcox
11:03 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Have they released the name of the women killed? I have worked with many homeless people as well as being homeless myself this past year and fear it is a woman that I know. Praying for her family.
Agape Ministries COGIC
2:30 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
I've been told that it was a lady named Paula. She would come visit our church regularly.
Gabrielle Donnald
6:51 am on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.
David M. Baker
9:28 am on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Very fishy. Wondering if a darker motive is at work. I guess we'll have to see what investigators find.
Kym Byrnes
9:51 am on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Here is the follow up story. Sad all around. http://westminster.patch.com/articles/officials-rule-fatal-fire-outside-westminster-thrift-shop-an-accident
David M. Baker
4:54 pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Sad indeed. Thanks for the update.
Michele Field
11:59 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013
Not many people will mourn the loss of Paula Mae Carlisle. I doubt many knew her name. She walked the streets of Westminster in a long dusty pink coat & a baseball cap. She was kind & gracious & her life was hard. At Shepherd's Staff, she was given new clothes on a regular basis (her own clothes were so bug infested, they couldn't be salvaged), a place to shower, some food, & always compassionate companionship. I remember watching her doze in a chair in the waiting room, praying for her, & thinking what life could have been like for her as a homeless woman & what circumstances brought her to the place of having nowhere to call home & no security & peace & comfort to call her own. I pray we all take a moment to pray for our homeless & consider what we can do to make someone else's life less miserable. I knew her only a short time, but I am changed by the experience. I pray she knew Jesus Christ in a personal way & that she will never know hunger or cold again. RIP Paula.