Baltimore County Fire

The free-burning stump dump fire in Granite still burns, although faster than Baltimore County fire officials had expected.County Battalion Chief Ralph Nelson said the fire has consumed as much as 40 percent of the huge piles of tree stumps that started burning Feb. 2. The fire site is at Patapsco Valley Farms in southwestern Baltimore County and smoke and odor from it wafted as far as eastern parts of Baltimore.After firefighting efforts failed in February, the fire department expected the heap to burn as long as eight months, Nelson said.

Baltimore County fire officials have temporarily suspended a search that failed to turn up a 26-year-old man reported missing Saturday afternoon after falling from his kayak in Gunpowder Falls. The 26-year-old man was reported missing around 4:30 p.m. by a friend who was kayaking with him in the river near Belair Road, in Kingsville, according to Lt. Jay Ringgold, a spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department. Several crews were still on the scene at 8 p.m., but had not been able to locate the man, he said.

Baltimore County Fire Department officials, concerned over recent barn fires in Carroll and Baltimore counties, will hold a community meeting at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Arcadia fire station.The gathering is part of the department's "After the Fire Program" that started in 1991.The program has helped community groups and organizations deal with fires and tragic events, officials said.The program, to be conducted by the Baltimore County Fire Investigation and Prevention and Public Education divisions of the Fire Department, will address the recent series of unexplained barn fires in the Hanover Pike and Route 91 area.

Over two years have passed since firefighter Mark Falkenhan was killed at an apartment fire on Dowling Circle in Towson. His death resulted, in part, from a collapse of the Incident Command System (ICS), when first-arriving units were faced with heavy fire and multiple rescues. ICS is a procedural policy for ensuring that command and control mechanisms are continually utilized during mitigation efforts at every incident. "Command" is assumed by the officer of the first-arriving unit and passed to the responding chief officer upon his or her arrival.

Baltimore County fire officials are investigating an arson that destroyed a Parkville High School portable classroom early yesterday."We have a reason to believe that someone set a fire to the classroom," said Mark Hubbard, spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department.Firefighters quickly contained the one-alarm fire that broke out in the trailer in the 2600 block of Putty Hill Ave. about 5 a.m.No one was inside, and the fire did not spread to the main building.The classroom, which accommodated 25 high school students, had $9,000 in damage, Hubbard said.

About 20 female residents of a building at the Rosewood Center in Owings Mills were displaced last night after a single-alarm fire, apparently intentionally set by a developmentally disabled resident, Baltimore County fire officials said. No one was injured, and all of the women were evacuated to a nearby building, said Baltimore County Fire Division Chief Michael Robinson. The fire was reported about 8:45 p.m. after alarms went off, he said. It destroyed the room of the woman who is thought to have started the fire and caused smoke damage elsewhere in the building, he said.

Because of incorrect information supplied by the Baltimore County Fire Department, an article in yesterday's Maryland section gave the wrong location for a fire in Towson. The fire was at 608 Bosley Ave., in a building occupied by Towson Realty.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 6/02/98

Because of an editing error, an article in some editions yesterday on the history of the Cockeysville Volunteer Fire Company indicated incorrectly the year of the founding of the Baltimore County Fire Department, which was 1882.The Sun regrets the errors.

One man died in a single-dwelling fire yesterday morning, Baltimore County fire officials said.The blaze, which was reported in a midblock rowhouse in the 8300 block of Hillendale Road shortly before noon, was brought under control within 20 minutes, said Baltimore County Fire Department Battalion Chief Mark Hubbard.The man, whose name had not been released by authorities as of yesterday evening, was found inside the front door by firefighters when they entered the house, Hubbard said."The fire is still under investigation," Hubbard said.

Four people were injured, including one who suffered serious burns, in an electrical fire Saturday afternoon at Pharmaceutics International Inc. in Hunt Valley, Baltimore County fire authorities said. Fire officials responded to a call just before 1 p.m. for a building fire in the 10800 block of Gilroy Road near Beaver Dam Road, authorities said. Baltimore County Fire Department Lt. James Artis said four electricians were working inside a power room when an electrical short occurred. One suffered third-degree burns to the upper body.

An early-morning fire on Saturday destroyed a maintenance building on the property of St. Joseph Church in Fullerton, according to church and county fire officials. But church officials said the parish's celebration of Easter services on Sunday would not be affected by the incident. Church officials, in a statement on the church website, said the blaze was the result of arson, though county fire officials have not given an official cause. Emergency units were dispatched at 3:25 a.m. and arrived at the church in the 8400 block of Bel Air Road about 3:30 a.m. to find the building in flames, said Lt. Julia Dillard, a county fire spokeswoman.

Two local residents have died in separate house fires this week, including an elderly man in a two-alarm blaze in the Jacksonville-area Thursday morning. According to the Baltimore County Fire department, the fire occurred just after midnight in a single-family home at the 5600 block of Sweet Air Road. Baltimore and Harford county fire officials responded to the heavy fire, and officials said that because there were no hydrants in the area extra crews were called to assist with water, which was shuttled from a nearby natural water source.

The Saturday night blaze at a Catonsville hotel caused $3.5 million in damage, according to the Baltimore County fire department. Fire alarms went off around 8 p.m. Saturday at The Days Inn on Baltimore Pike, causing 160 hotel guests to be evacuated. Two were taken to nearby hospital and a firefighter was treated for minor injuries, according to the fire department. Investigators believe the blazed started in a locker room on top floor of the seventh-story building. They were still looking for the cause Sunday afternoon, but early reports indicating that smoking by a hotel guest played a role in the fire appear to be wrong, according to a news release from the fire department.

The Baltimore County Professional Fire Fighters union announced its endorsement of Kevin Kamenetz for Baltimore County Executive Thursday. Kamenetz, the Democratic nominee for county executive, beat out Joseph Bartenfelder in the primary and will face Republican candidate Kenneth Holt in November. Several organizations and politicians who backed Bartenfelder in the primary have announced their support for Kamenetz, a county councilman, including the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4, which represents county police retirees and officers up to the rank of lieutenant.

Baltimore County police have identified the Carroll County man who was found in a burning car in Upperco last week. John David Metcalf, 48, of the 4600 block of Buffington Lane in Taneytown was found March 12 after county police and fire responded to reports of a vehicle fire in the 4600 block of Black Road. He was dead at the scene. After an investigation, police determined that the engine in Metcalf's vehicle caught fire when he stopped in the parking lot of Grace United Methodist Church in the 4600 block of Black Rock Road.

Suspect, 29, charged in beating of homeless man A homeless man was recovering from severe head injuries after an unprovoked beating Sunday in Westminster, according to the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. A 29-year-old man was charged in the attack. Authorities found George Herbert Smith Jr. semiconscious and lying on a pile of garbage at a makeshift campsite near Routes 27 and 140. He was in serious condition Monday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Troy Thomas Haller of no fixed address was charged with first- and second-degree assault, disorderly intoxication and reckless endangerment, according to the sheriff's office.

The Baltimore County Fire Department's Fire Expo '04 will showcase the county's fire services from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow at the Padonia Park Swim Club, 12006 Jenifer Road. The expo will offer fire engine rides for children, child safety seat installation demonstrations and programs on how to rescue victims from car crashes. A fire memorabilia flea market is also planned, with antique fire equipment as prizes. Information: 410-887-4520.

A three-story frame house partially collapsed during a one-alarm fire last night in Glen Arm in northeast Baltimore County, but fire officials reported no injuries.Neighbors reported the fire at 6: 39 p.m. at a house in the 12000 block of Glen Arm Road, said acting Lt. Tim Robinson of the Baltimore County Fire Department.Battalion Chief Mark Hubbard said he wasn't sure whether the homeowner was at home when the fire started, but she was staying with a neighbor afterward."There was heavy fire on the rear of the house , and the fire was raging on the first and third floor," Hubbard said.

Four-alarm fire forces Cockeysville residents to flee A 4-alarm fire late Thursday night extensively damaged at least one three-story garden-style Cockeysville apartment building and forced the evacuation of numerous residents, said a spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department. No injuries were reported. The fire, reported at 11:40 p.m. at the Milestone Manor Apartments in the 200 block of St. David Court, went to four alarms in a matter of minutes and brought firefighters from at least a dozen stations.

Danelle England-Dansicker, Baltimore County's first career female firefighter, died Tuesday of complications from autoimmune disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Pikesville resident was 52. "She blazed a trail for a lot of people," said Baltimore County Fire Chief John Hohman. "She earned the respect of those you would have never expected to accept a woman. She made it easier for us to diversify this department." Anida Danelle England was born in Baltimore and raised on Milford Mill Road.