Prince George’s County Police arrested a woman and charged her with setting a fire on the night of Jan. 1, 2021 that displaced 65 people from an apartment building in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
The fire required over 100 firefighters and called upon units from Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax Counties in Virginia for help.
Crews arrived to the 2100 block of Alice Ave. and found a three-story apartment building with heavy fire showing on the second floor.
No one was hurt in the blaze.
Upon investigation, the county’s police department identified and later arrested Quiana Taliaferro, who lived in the complex, for starting the fire.
Taliaferro, who admitted starting the fire, has been charged with felony first-degree arson and misdemeanor reckless endangerment.
If she is found guilty, Taliaferro faces up to 30 years in prison on the arson charge alone.
A statement from police released Saturday said the fire, which caused around $2 million in damages, was started by Taliaferro in a bedroom inside her apartment.
“The action of the arsonist really has made a difficult impact on a lot of people’s lives,” said Michael Yourishin, a spokesman for the county’s fire and rescue service.
The blaze was the third faced by Prince George’s County on New Year’s Day.
Earlier Friday, a fire tore though a one-story house on the 11300 block of Montgomery Road in Beltsville shortly after noon, killing a woman and sending three other people, including an 8-year-old girl, to the hospital with serious injuries.
Mirna Reinoza, 42, died in the fire. Yourishin said she left her home due to the smoke alarm, and then re-entered. During that time, the girl was able to get out of the home, but Reinoza was not. Her body was later found inside the home.
Before 2:30 p.m., on Sybaris Drive in Upper Marlboro, fire crews put out a house fire that displaced two adults and one child. The family dog died.
Prince George’s County firefighters battled a house blaze again later at 5 p.m. on the 4200 block of 21st Place in Temple Hills.
WTOP’s Abigail Constantino and Luke Garrett contributed to this report.
