Richard Irwin
Floor gives way in house on fire, injuring 2 firefighters
Two firefighters were injured in a house fire yesterday morning in the Woodlawn area of Baltimore County, authorities said. The fire broke out about 6:30 a.m. in the basement of a 1 1/2 -story house in the 2100 block of Lorraine Ave., county fire officials said. Firefighters entered the home in search of occupants when the first floor collapsed, and two firefighters fell to the basement, said Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman. The firefighters were rescued and treated at the scene by paramedics. They were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for evaluation, Armacost said. A Shock Trauma official said the firefighters were in good condition. The firefighters were identified as Lt. William Allenbaugh and Fire Specialist Kaaren Priester. Armacost said that the house, which had extensive fire damage, was not occupied when fire crews responded and that it had recently changed owners. The one-alarm fire was brought under control by 7:15 a.m., she said.
Gus G. Sentementes
Armed men rob U-Haul in Northwest Baltimore
Two gunmen approached employees and customers at a U-Haul store in Northwest Baltimore yesterday, locked them in an office and then robbed the business, police said. The robbery happened shortly before noon at the business in the 4100 block of W. Northern Parkway, according to Agent Donny Moses, a city police spokesman. Two men, one wearing a construction hard hat, walked into the store and showed a shotgun and a revolver. The robbers locked six customers and employees in an upstairs room, and then stole about $1,000, Moses said. "When they came in, people thought they were construction workers," Moses said of the robbers. The robbers then ran off, Moses said. Descriptions of the men were not available. No one was injured in the incident.
Gus G. Sentementes
High-speed test track to be built at APG
The Army will break ground Thursday on an $8.8 million high-speed test track at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County. The 4.5-mile course to be built at the post's Automotive Technology Evaluation Facility will enable the military to test wheeled and tracked vehicles - some heavily armored and weighing as much as 119 tons - at sustained high speeds. Plans call for a 207-foot-wide oval track with safety runoff areas and grading to enable tracked, wheeled, and robotic vehicles to be tested for endurance, reliability, fuel consumption, acceleration, braking, steering and cooling. Construction will begin immediately on the first phase of the project through a contract the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded to American Infrastructure of Worcester, Pa.
