A three-alarm fire that left a 36-year-old woman dead and damaged three townhouses in Sterling on Friday was intentionally set – and a 78-year-old man is in custody charged with murder, Loudoun County fire officials said Wednesday.
Fire crews were dispatched to the 20000 block of Riptide Square just after 1 a.m for reports of a fire with potential entrapment.
“Firefighters arrived to find two townhomes engulfed in flames, with the fire extending to a third residence,” Loudoun County fire and rescue said in a news release. “The intensity of the blaze and multiple structural collapses prevented firefighters from entering the buildings, forcing them to combat the fire from the exterior.” One person was unaccounted for in the aftermath of the blaze…