Damage

State fire marshals on Friday arrested a Perryville man accused of setting his apartment on fire, officials said Saturday. Isaac M. Chestnut, 57, is being held at Cecil County Detention Center on three charges of arson and malicious burning. Neighbors called 911 after the fire ignited around 4:30 p.m. in a two-story building in the 600 block of Broad St. in Perryville. The building housed three apartments above businesses, including a pizza shop. The fire caused more than $1,000 in damage, state fire officials said.

After the recent hurricanes, I'm worried about a tree by my house. Should I get it topped so it's shorter and less prone to fall over? Tree topping (which is like a buzz cut) is never recommended, for several reasons. Trees are programmed through their DNA to grow to a particular height. If chopped back, they will grow tall again. Add to this that pruning stimulates growth. Consequently, whacking the top off a tree produces lots of rapidly growing suckers and unfortunately this new growth is weakly attached to the tree.

A small kitchen fire caused by a pot left on the stove damaged an Edgewood home early Tuesday morning but no injuries were reported, according to the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company. Firefighters were called at 2:35 a.m. to the 600 block of Harr Park Court, where smoke was pouring from a two-story townhouse. Crews extinguished a small fire in the kitchen. Fire officials said residents sleeping on the second floor were alerted by smoke detectors and they were not injured.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will grant Baltimore County disaster aid to help pay for damage from Superstorm Sandy, officials announced Thursday. Under the grant program, the federal government will reimburse the county for expenses, including storm preparation, debris removal and damage to public facilities related to the October storm. Officials estimate that storm preparations and damage cost the county $3.4 million, said county public safety spokeswoman Elise Armacost.

A two-alarm fire on New Year's Eve caused an estimated $500,000 in damage to a commercial building in the Keymar area of Carroll County, according to the State Fire Marshal's office. The incident occurred at about 5:50 p.m. at 1060 Francis Scott Key Highway (Route 194), Keymar. According to the fire marshal's account, the building is a concrete and steel structure with a wood-framed roof, and is the home of two local companies - Keymar Tire Outlet and J. P. Donmoyer Trucking Company.

Police have reopened the 12900 block of Fork Road in Baldwin Tuesday morning after a several-hour closure caused by a car accident that brought down utility wires. Baltimore County Police Corporal John Wachter said Verizon repair crews are working between Cherry Hill Road and Abels Avenue, but traffic can now pass through. The motorist was driving on Fork Road at about 5:50 a.m. when he struck a utility pole, Wachter said. The motorist was not taken to the hospital, he said. No other cars were involved in the crash, Wachter said.

When push came to shove, Republicans and Democrats came together for a last-minute bi-partisan compromise on the so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that would have plunged the nation back into recession. The deal passed the Senate overwhelmingly after marathon negotiations between Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden. Just eight senators voted against it, and although it technically came after the midnight deadline, the New Year's holiday afforded Congress the chance to finalize the deal before the markets - or the general public - had time to react.

Declaring that Maryland's coastal areas are increasingly at risk from a rising sea level, Gov. Martin O'Malley has ordered state agencies to weigh the growing risks of flooding in deciding where and how to construct state buildings. "Billions of dollars of investments in public infrastructure will be threatened if the state of Maryland fails to prepare adequately for climate change," he said in Friday's executive order, which calls for avoiding low-lying sites and elevating new or reconstructed state buildings to avert flooding.

Two large ships being unloaded at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore shifted away from the berth where they were docked amid strong winds Wednesday night, snapping the lines tying them down and damaging a crane, according to officials at the port of Baltimore. The roll-on, roll-off ships, containing heavy machinery, farm equipment and other vehicles, are owned by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, one of the port's largest roll-on, roll-off customers, said Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Maryland Port Administration.

A strong low-pressure system causing blizzards across the Midwest is forecast to bring potential white-out conditions in Western Maryland and damaging winds across the Baltimore area Friday and Saturday. Heavy snow combined with strong winds could create blizzard conditions with near-zero visibility in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. Up to 14 inches of snow could accumulate, with a blizzard warning in effect for western Allegany County and a winter storm warning for Garrett County.