Blaze

No one was injured Monday afternoon as firefighters battled a blaze at a Fallston home, officials said. Dave Williams of the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association said the fire was reported at about 3:25 p.m. on Franklins Chance Court. The occupant of the house was home but was able to self-evacuate, he said. Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

Howard County firefighters took 15 minutes to extinguish a fire in a garden-style apartment in Columbia on Saturday afternoon, according to authorities. The fire was reported about 12:40 p.m. in a third story apartment in the 6000 block of Majors Lane. Several occupants got out safely before firefighters arrived, a department spokesman said. No one was injured the cause of the fire remains under investigation. peter.hermann@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

More than 100 fire personnel and 30 fire vehicles were on the scene of a three-alarm fire Sunday afternoon at DiDi's Pizza on Holabird Avenue in Dundalk, fire officials said. When firefighters arrived at the scene about 12:20 p.m., they encountered such a large fire that they called for a second and then a third alarm, officials said. No one was injured in the blaze, whose cause was under investigation, fire officials said. The fire was declared under control about an hour later, officials said.

Howard County fire fighters on Thursday extinguished an early morning fire outside the Sears store at The Mall in Columbia. According to the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, emergency units responded to a call at 5:40 a.m. and found a fire in a trailer attached to a loading dock outside Sears. Crews quickly put out the fire and obtained a ventilation unit from Montgomery County to help remove smoke from inside the store. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation, according to the fire department.

Baltimore firefighters were working to control a massive fire downtown on The Block, the city's main hub of strip clubs near City Hall. Thick, black smoke could be seen rising over the city as firetrucks raced down Interstate 83. Initial reports indicated that the fire was based at 404 E. Baltimore St., the location of the Gayety Show World.

A volunteer firefighter suffered minor injuries in a two-alarm blaze Wednesday night in Rodgers Forge, Baltimore County fire officials said. Firefighters responded to an apartment fire in the 6800 block of Blenheim Road about 11 p.m. A firefighter from Providence Volunteer Fire Department was injured during the blaze and was transported to an area hospital with undisclosed injuries, a spokeswoman for the county fire department said....

Baltimore county fire officials are investigating a fire reported Thursday morning at a playground in Parkville. Fire units responded to a call for a fire in the 3000 block of Balder Ave. about 6:30 a.m. No further details were available.

One firefighter sustained minor injuries battling an early morning blaze Friday in East Baltimore, according to Baltimore Fire Department officials. The fire started at about 6 a.m. in a vacant two-story brick row house in the 2700 block of Chase St. The fire spread to a home next door, and all residents had to be evacuated, fire officials said. Firefighters brought the blaze under control in less than an hour. The vacant home suffered damage throughout, and the roof of the house next door was compromised.

An early morning two-alarm fire at a senior citizens' complex in Dundalk damaged several apartments Wednesday and sent hundreds of residents fleeing from the building, according to Baltimore County Fire Department officials. The blaze started about 6 a.m. in an apartment on the eighth floor of the Center Place Apartments, in the 100 block of Center Place, a spokesman for the Fire Department said. A preliminary investigation found that the fire began in a trash can, likely by a lit cigarette, fire officials said.

Baltimore County fire officials battled an early-morning boat blaze that spread to the dock of the Essex Marina on Sunday, a department spokesman said. Officials responded to the marina after receiving a call around 3:37 a.m. from neighboring residents who reported an "explosion" and a "loud pop" at the marina, the spokesman said. When officials arrived, the boat was fully engulfed in flames and the dock was also on fire, according to the spokesman, who said officials used foam to extinguish the blaze.

The Baltimore City Fire Department battled a three-alarm fire at a warehouse at 1200 Baylis St. in the Canton area late into the night Sunday, bringing it under control around midnight. Capt. Roman Clark, a department spokesman, said about 60 residents in the block were evacuated. No homes were involved in the fire, but heavy smoke and the fire's proximity to residences spurred the evacuation, said Chief Kevin Cartwright. An MTA bus was called to shelter residents. Power was also out in the immediate area.

With a Canton warehouse fire reduced to a smolder by Monday morning, attention shifted to ensuring that surrounding homes and the harbor's waters are protected from caustic chemicals inside the facility. State and federal environmental officials were on the site alongside firefighters into Monday evening, monitoring water streaming from the one-story brick structure into storm drains. The warehouse contains nearly 8,000 gallons of corrosive chemicals, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Firefighters responded to a three-alarm blaze at a Glen Burnie apartment complex early Tuesday, according to the Anne Arundel County fire department. No injuries were reported. Units were called to the three-story building in the Villages at Marley Station complex in the 100 block of Faywood Ave. shortly before 3:30 a.m., officials said. The first unit encountered heavy smoke and reports of people possibly trapped inside upon arrival to the scene, so additional resources were requested, officials said.

It worked for another post-graduate quarterback. Why not Danny O'Brien? The former Maryland star decided Tuesday to transfer to Wisconsin, which won last year's inaugural Big Ten championship game thanks in part to the play of North Carolina State transfer Russell Wilson. “Our paths are kind of similar coming from the [Atlantic Coast Conference] to Wisconsin specifically, but it's a new year,” he told reporters on a conference call. “The 2012 season has yet to be written.

Baltimore County fire officials battled an early-morning boat blaze that spread to the dock of the Essex Marina on Sunday, a department spokesman said. Officials responded to the marina after receiving a call around 3:37 a.m. from neighboring residents who reported an "explosion" and a "loud pop" at the marina, the spokesman said. When officials arrived, the boat was fully engulfed in flames and the dock was also on fire, according to the spokesman, who said officials used foam to extinguish the blaze.

An unidentified homeless man was taken to Bayview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries Monday after firefighters found him unconscious inside a burning single-family home in Brooklyn Park. Anne Arundel County firefighters responded to the 4500 block of Ritchie Highway at 12:01 p.m., a spokesman said. It took about 30 firefighters 15-20 minutes to control the blaze in the otherwise vacant structure, he said. The fire caused $40,000 in damage. Its cause is under investigation.

Baltimore City firefighters extinguished a house fire in the 600 block of Charraway Road in Southwest Baltimore Sunday evening. A fire department spokesman said the blaze broke through the rear of the middle of group rowhome about 6 p.m. No injuries were reported. jacques.kelly@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Two firefighters were injured while working to extinguish a blaze in a vacant home in Better Waverly, a city fire spokesman said. The firefighters responded to the 3000 block of Independence Street at about 8:30 a.m. Monday morning, said Chief Kevin Cartwright. Their injuries were not life-threatening, he said. One was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and the other to the Public Service Infirmary at Mercy Medical Center, Cartwright said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

UPPER MARLBORO — Authorities say a house fire that injured seven Prince George's County firefighters in Riverdale was arson. One firefighter remains hospitalized, in critical but stable condition, after Friday's fire. Kevin O'Toole is expected to stay in the hospital for weeks. Officials said at a news conference Wednesday that the fire was started in the basement of the home.

"Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning" Developer: Big Huge Games/38 Studios Platform: Xbox 360/PS3/PC Score: 8/10 “Kingoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is not “Skyrim,” and that is completely OK. It seems unfair to review such an ambitious game solely through the lens of a title that came out three months earlier in the same genre. Even if said title was the best game released in 2011, if not ever . It would be too easy to line them up side-by-side and see how “Kingdoms” stacks up against a game it wasn't trying to directly challenge in the first place.  “Kingdoms” is less about the “open world” and more about the “open experience.” Make no mistake, while the fictional realm of Amalur is vast and varied, there are invisible walls in in the world of “Kingdoms.” Whereas a very sandbox-heavy open world title might require the player to be a “self starter” to get the full experience, “Kingdoms” falls closer to the end of the gameplay spectrum that continualy nudges you to building your player's history even if it's not at all a linear path to a dramatic end. To make one final comparison to “Skyrim” for those intent on equating the experience, “Skyrim” is a big ball of clay and “Kingdoms” is one of the biggest Lego sets money can buy. Some have also unfavorably compared it to a single player version of “World of Warcraft,” but for many, including this reviewer, that was the most pleasurable...