More News

A Potomac house fire on Monday was allegedly intentionally started by a woman who lives there, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue assistant chief Scott Graham.

Firefighters responded to the 10800 block of Old Coach Road shortly after 6 a.m. and found fires in multiple locations around the home. Investigators suspect the fires were intentionally set by the elderly female resident, Graham said. Property tax records identify the homeowner as Francis Zugel, and neighbors confirmed his wife's first name is Rosemary.

She and her 80-year-old husband escaped and called responders from a neighbor's home, Graham said.

Rosemary Zugel allegedly wrote messages on the walls of the home during the incident, though Graham didn't know what the messages said.

"She rang my doorbell at 6 a.m. and said her house was on fire," said neighbor Marjorie Lynch.

Lynch said she and her husband had been friendly with the couple, who live across the street, since moving into the neighborhood in 1966.

Neighbor Katherine Klotz, another original homeowner on the block, said after the fire, she got in touch with one of the couple's four daughters, two of whom live in the area.

"She was off the mark when we first got out there at 6 o'clock," Klotz said of Rosemary Zugel. Klotz said that after the fire, Zugel was worried someone was coming to kill her daughters.

After the fire, Klotz also tried to convince Francis Zugel to go to the hospital to get treated for what she described as a "big cut" on his arm. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

It took firefighters about a half hour to contain the blaze, Graham said.

Charges in the case are pending, he said.