Police ID Body Found In Germantown Fire

GERMANTOWN, MD — The Montgomery County police announced Thursday that no foul play is suspected in the death of a man whose body was discovered after a kitchen fire in a local townhouse. The police identified the man as Richard Michael Bauer, 69.

The police and county firefighters found Bauer's body after responding at about noon Wednesday to the blaze in a townhouse in the 19200 block of Cross Ridge Drive in Germantown, according to a police statement.

The body was taken Wednesday to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, where an autopsy was conducted. The results are pending, the police said Thursday.

The townhouse's sprinkler system extinguished the kitchen fire, according to Pete Piringer, chief spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service.

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Fire investigators believe the blaze was likely caused by a combustible item that was set too close to the kitchen's stove, he said.

The police urge anyone who has any information on this house fire or this death to contact the Police Department's Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5070.

Image: Patch file