A fire at a two-story apartment building in Baltimore County just outside Mount Washington early Saturday claimed the life of a 34-year-old woman who was a teacher at a school for children with reading difficulties.
Kristen Chencus, a resident of 6603 Copper Ridge Drive in Bonnie Ridge Apartments off Smith Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Michael W. Robinson, a division chief with the Baltimore County Fire Department.
The first engine arriving at the building confirmed a fire on the first floor of Chencus' two-story garden apartment. Her body was found in the bedroom. Investigators said the cause of her death won't be determined until the state medical examiner's office completes its report.
Fire investigators on Saturday probed the cause of the fire and where it began.
Baltimore County 911 received a call about the fire at 1:15 a.m. It took about 35 minutes for about 75 fire personnel to bring the fire under control, the Fire Department said.
Firefighters found a smoke alarm in Chencus' apartment, but it was damaged by heat from the fire and investigators could not determine whether it had been working, Robinson said.
No one else was injured in the fire, which firefighters confined to two apartments in the 12-unit structure. Smoke and water damaged three other apartments.
The fire caused an estimated $300,000 in damage to the complex and an additional $100,000 in damage to residents' contents. Emergency management officials were working with the complex's management to secure shelter for six to eight people whose apartments were damaged. The apartment complex is just across the city line from Mount Washington.
Chencus had worked for 10 years as a teacher at the Jemicy Lower School in Owings Mills, said Ben Shifrin, the head of the school.
"She was an innovator, creative, dynamic, loved by the staff and also by the students," said Shifrin, who added that Chencus previously had taught at a boarding school for dyslexic students in upstate New York.
In 2003, The Baltimore Sun reported on the disappearance of a 33-year-old Federal Hill man, James C. Standiford, whose rented house in the 200 block of E. West St. was severely damaged by fire.
The article reported that Standiford's girlfriend, a woman named Kristen Chencus, joined the search for him.
According to online court records, Standiford was charged with first-degree arson and pleaded guilty in November 2003 in Baltimore City Circuit Court. Standiford was sentenced to 10 years, with all but one day suspended. He received five years' probation, according to online records.
David B. Irwin, a Towson attorney who represented Standiford, said Saturday that he recalled his client entered an Alford plea - in which the defendant does not admit guilt but concedes that the prosecution has enough evidence to bring a conviction. Standiford could not be reached Saturday for comment.
