Damaged By Fire

Baltimore County park officials are trying to determine whether they can save a historic cabin at the Holt Center for the Arts in Overlea that was damaged by fire recently.Fire investigators have not determined the cause of the fire that broke out early Dec. 21 and caused an estimated $50,000 in damage. The fire appeared to have started on the front porch, then burned through the roof of the two-story building off McCormick Avenue.The cabin was used for art classes and is one of four on the property.

A three-alarm fire last night heavily damaged a 138-year-old historic residence that was originally built in the heart of Annapolis to serve as the city's first synagogue.The fire was discovered shortly before 8: 30 p.m. when a passer-by saw flames coming from the second floor of the three-story stucco building at 183 Duke of Gloucester St. and banged on the door to alert the two tenants. They were in the kitchen and unaware of the blaze.The tenants, Catherine Lange and Laura Zandenberge, escaped without injuries, but a firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation at Anne Arundel Medical Center, fire officials said.

A Sykesville family of five stayed with friends and relatives after their two-story, split-level home was damaged by fire Tuesday, fire officials said.State fire marshals said the fire, which broke out near a wood stove at 4: 46 p.m., was caused by a faulty chimney. The home is in the first block of W. Old Liberty Road.William Hodgin, 52, sons William Jr., 21, Timothy, 18, Mark, 16, and daughter Jennifer, 20, were not at home when the fire was discovered by a neighbor.Firefighters from Winfield, Gamber and Sykesville brought the fire under control in about an hour.

A man was killed in a two-alarm fire last night in Northwest Baltimore, a Fire Department spokesman said.Bruce Wayne Dingle, 40, of 5116, Chalgrove Ave. in Pimlico was found in a rear second-floor bedroom of his home and was pronounced dead at the scene, said Fire Inspector Michael Maybin, the spokesman.Maybin said Dingle's nephew, Demone Mason, 17, escaped the burning rowhouse without injury.Maybin said investigators were seeking the cause of the fire that extensively damaged the two-story dwelling.

Two schools damaged by fire and graffitiTwo Savage schools were damaged by fire and graffiti early Friday, and Howard County police believe two boys seen running from the area are to blame.Bollman Bridge Elementary School in the 8200 block of Savage Guilford Road and Patuxent Valley Middle School in the 9100 block of Vollmerhausen Road each suffered about $1,000 worth of damage after plastic recycling bins on the schools' loading docks and a trash bin were burned, said Lt. Ken Byerly, a Howard County fire spokesman.

A crew of 300 workers organized by a company specializing in emergency reconstruction rushed yesterday to scrub away soot and complete a $1 million cleanup to reopen Lake Clifton-Eastern High School this morning, exactly a week after it was heavily damaged by fire."

Three men were arrested on drug and weapons charges early Friday morning after an officer patrolling a Savage industrial area saw them hiding in a car, police said.The men drew the officer's suspicion when they ducked down in their Acura as the police car approached them in the 9000 block of Junction Drive at 3:20 a.m.According to county police, the officer searched the car after the men gave their consent, finding a .22-caliber handgun, ammunition and 15 vials of crack cocaine. The three occupants were charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of cocaine and a weapons violation.

Hours after the black-tie New Year's Eve bash at McGarvey's Saloon in Annapolis, a three-alarm fire struck the downtown landmark. One section of the business was damaged by fire, and no one was injured."

Solley school design money approvedThe state has approved a $1.6 million grant in planning money for a new Solley Elementary School, clearing the way for construction of a facility that would relieve crowding in three local schools.The state Board of Public Works turned down the county's request last January but approved the funding last week."I'm tickled pink with it," said Pasadena Councilman Carl G. Holland. "We've been working tremendously on this for two years."Mr. Holland also said that Jane Ness has donated almost five acres of property to the school system with the understanding that it be used for the new school.

The Harryman House, a popular Reisterstown restaurant an tavern, received extensive damage early today when a fire raced through the building.No one was in the restaurant when the fire broke out about 2 a.m. and no injuries were reported, officials said. Police were hunting for possible residents of two upstairs apartments.Baltimore County police said the blaze apparently was caused by discarded smoking materials but it remains under investigation.The fire was reported by a passer-by who saw smoke and flames.

A fire at a two-story apartment building in Baltimore County just outside Mount Washington early Saturday claimed the life of a 34-year-old woman who was a teacher at a school for children with reading difficulties. Kristen Chencus, a resident of 6603 Copper Ridge Drive in Bonnie Ridge Apartments off Smith Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Michael W. Robinson, a division chief with the Baltimore County Fire Department. The first engine arriving at the building confirmed a fire on the first floor of Chencus' two-story garden apartment.

Two vacant and boarded rowhouses on St. Benedict Street in Southwest Baltimore were heavily damaged by fire yesterday afternoon, according to a Fire Department spokesman. The fire broke out shortly after 12:30 p.m. and required fire commanders to sound two alarms, bringing a dozen trucks and engines to the 2600 block of St. Benedict St., near St. Agnes Hospital. Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman, said flames were shooting through the roof when firefighters arrived. The fire was under control shortly after 1 p.m. Cartwright said one firefighter twisted his ankle.

A child playing with matches set the fire last month that displaced 40 people and caused $1.5 million damage at an Annapolis apartment complex, while a second fire days later on Main Street probably was sparked by a faulty heater, the city Fire Department said yesterday. The three-alarm blaze Dec. 13 at the Admiral Farragut Apartments on Hilltop Lane started in a closet of a first-floor apartment, according to the Fire Department. Residents tried to extinguish it before calling 911, and the fire spread further as they left a door open when they fled outside, said Capt.

An accidental fire caused $60,000 in damage to a 100-year- old house yesterday in the historic area of Annapolis, fire officials said. Firefighters responded to the blaze in the 100 block of Prince George St. at 8:47 a.m. and had the fire under control after 30 minutes, said Capt. Joseph Martin, a spokesman for the Annapolis Fire Department. Martin said the fire was started by workers stripping paint with a heat gun. He said the fire damaged the third floor of the house. There was smoke and water damage on the lower floors, he said.

A family of seven was forced to find temporary shelter after its Odenton home was damaged by fire yesterday morning. Around 11:15 a.m., Anne Arundel County firefighters were called to a townhouse in the 8000 block of Monhegan Court near Fort Meade, said Division Chief John M. Scholz. The residence is home to a couple and five children, he said. Their names had not been released late yesterday. According to Scholz, only one family member, a 13-year-old boy, was inside the house when the fire began.

A house in Harford County was badly damaged by fire Saturday after four teen-agers threw a ground-based sparkler from their car into shrubbery near the home, officials said. No one was injured. The home in the 2900 block of Craigston Lane in Abingdon was quickly engulfed and sustained damages estimated at $225,000, said Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Bob Thomas. The blaze was brought under control in 30 minutes by 50 firefighters from Abingdon and Bel Air. The teens said they were parked at the side of the road and intended to set off the sparkler, which emits a shower of sparks, on the front lawn.

A Cockeysville automobile dealership was heavily damaged yesterday when a two-alarm fire broke out in the shop area. The fire at Valley Motors in the 9800 block of York Road forced police to close a stretch of heavily traveled York Road for several hours. Capt. James Korn, a spokesman for the Baltimore County Fire Department, said the fire broke out about 11:15 a.m. when a car in the shop's bay area caught fire. The fire spread quickly to the rest of the two-story building. It took firefighters more than five hours to bring the two-alarm blaze under control, he said.

The Hopewell neighborhood swimming pool, off Snowden River Parkway in east Columbia, may not be able to open Memorial Day weekend because of a pre-dawn fire last week that destroyed the pool's pumping equipment and a wooden building that housed the machinery. Rob Goldman, Columbia Association's vice president for sports and fitness, said it will take a week or two to determine whether the pool, one of 23 public pools in Columbia, will be able to open at all this year. "We're investigating to see if we can rig something to get us through the summer," he said.

Traffic delays are expected in both directions on Main Street in Ellicott City beginning tomorrowat 7 a.m. while a building damaged by fire Nov. 9 is demolished. The work hours for the demolition project are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. The job is expected to take four days, weather permitting. Two lanes of traffic will be kept open on Main Street, but traffic will be stopped while equipment is moved, according to the Department of Public Works' Bureau of Highways. Parking will be limited on Main Street.

Baltimore County park officials are trying to determine whether they can save a historic cabin at the Holt Center for the Arts in Overlea that was damaged by fire recently.Fire investigators have not determined the cause of the fire that broke out early Dec. 21 and caused an estimated $50,000 in damage. The fire appeared to have started on the front porch, then burned through the roof of the two-story building off McCormick Avenue.The cabin was used for art classes and is one of four on the property.