Damage

A fire caused an estimated $2.4 million damage Thursday night to a Street factory that builds computers for the blind.Firefighters from Harford County and York County, Pa., extinguished the fire at Blazie Engineering Co., but not before it destroyed computers and manufacturing equipment.The fire was contained to a storage area, but other parts of the building sustained heavy damage from smoke, heat and water, saidDeputy Chief State Fire Marshal Bob Thomas.The 11:45 p.m. fire was brought under control in about 35 minutes, he said.

A three-alarm fire at the Watergate Village Apartments in Eastport on Monday caused nearly $250,000 in damage, according to preliminary estimates. The fire, which started shortly after 10 a.m. at the six-floor building in the 700 block of Americana Drive, drew about 50 firefighters from Annapolis, Anne Arundel County and the Naval Academy, said Annapolis fire Battalion Chief Michael Lonergan. The fire started in a fifth-floor apartment, where plumbers were using a torch to fix a shower fixture.

High winds, some as strong as 70 mph, whipped across Ocean City during the weekend, ripping apart power lines and toppling two of four circus-type tents for the annual Spring Fest. No injuries were reported.The annual festival, which attracts about 200,000 visitors, continued yesterday with some arts and crafts vendors normally housed under tents setting up shop in their cars and on picnic tables, police said.Winds sent a steel trash bin on wheels into the side of a car, police said.Other damage included reports of broken windows.

A two-alarm fire Thursday night at Macy's Department Store in the Marley Station Mall caused $3.5 million in damage and forced the retailoutlet to close Friday.Fire officials say the blaze was started by an electrical malfunction at 9:06 p.m. in a third-floor room used by employees to build floor displays.They said sprinklers extinguished most of the flames, but firefighters had a tough time clearing smoke from the building.No one was injured.Fire Department spokesman Lt. Gary Sheckells said a second alarm was issued at 9:49 p.m. and the fire was under control by 1a.m.

A two-alarm fire destroyed a Taylorsville area home early yesterday, displacing the owners and causing $400,000 in damage, authorities said. A smoke alarm in the 2100 block of Timothy Drive alerted Robert and Vicki Frushour to the fire shortly after 4 a.m., said Allen Gosnell, deputy chief state fire marshal. Investigators said the fire appeared to have started on a wood deck behind the home's attached garage. Ten fire companies from Carroll, Howard and Frederick counties responded and controlled the fire in 45 minutes.

A fire that a jogger noticed before sunrise yesterday heavily damaged a boat docked at a neighborhood marina in Severna Park, authorities reported. The blaze was reported about 6 a.m. at the Berrywood Community Marina, at Berrywood Avenue and Hartman Drive. By the time firefighters arrived, the boat was mostly engulfed in flames, officials said. Damage to the vessel was estimated at $7,000 to $8,000, and another boat received about $500 in damage, the fire department said. The cause is being investigated.

Police are investigating a rash of vandalism incidents and thefts involving vehicles parked at Western Maryland College and at the Greens of Westminster.Residents at the college told police Thursday that someone had broken into several vehicles in a parking lot and stole personal property. The combined loss was estimated at $1,005.Sunday, residents of the Greens told police that someone had shot out windows of vehicles parked on Glenbrook Drive, Royer Road, Stacey Lee Drive, Wampler Lane and Windsor Drive.

Her face smudged with black soot, Enalee Bounds stood in Ellicott's Country Store last week surveying the fire-damaged antiques in the shop she has owned for 30 years.A two-alarm fire Wednesday night caused extensive smoke and water damage to Bounds' store in the 8100 block of Main Street and to an adjacent building that houses the craft shop Heirlooms and two apartments.Bounds and her husband, Roland, were on vacation in the British West Indies when their son, Steve, called with news of the fire.

Washington -- For years, Josephine Hart would work out the novel all in her head. When she went for walks in her hometown of London, she would imagine conversations between her characters. Plot lines were developed, discarded.But after writing 12,000 words, she put away the novel that she would not, could not, finish. Although she had a successful career producing plays in London's West End -- Noel Coward's "The Vortex," among others -- Ms. Hart seemed destined to remain unpublished.Finally, a friend happened to read the novel-in-progress and offered some friendly advice.

Two fires yesterday morning caused at least $460,000 damage, destroying a southeast Baltimore garage and truck-parts business and leaving six people homeless in Pimlico.A three-alarm blaze was reported at 12:58 a.m. at Frankfurst Fleet Service and the Frontier Truck Parts in the 900 block of Dundalk Ave., fire officials said. The fire, which burned for about an hour before it was declared under control, caused approximately $400,000 damage.Fire officials said the entire store and its contents burned.