A two-story home on Old Garden Creek Road in Mathews was destroyed in a fire late Monday afternoon, according to Steve Shaw, assistant chief of the Mathews Volunteer Fire Department. The fire was accidental in origin, he said.

The home, which according to county property assessment records belongs to Timothy and Beverly Colclough, was a total loss. "She was too far gone," Shaw said of the structure. Fire was already coming out of a downstairs window when Shaw and the other firefighters arrived on the scene, he said.

Shaw said he was initially informed that one of the residents may have still been inside the building, so firefighters executed an internal attack, searching the house for survivors. A short while later, Shaw learned that the resident was found outside the house, and pulled his crew out of the building.

The occupant of the house was taken to Riverside Walter Reed Hospital with smoke inhalation, Shaw said.

Capt. Sid Foster of the Mathews County Sheriff&rs...