Damaged By Fire

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.

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.

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 two-alarm fire that started in ceiling electrical wiring caused at least $200,000 damage to the Harford County mental health clinic Friday night, authorities said.More than 100 volunteers from Bel Air, Abingdon, Fallston, Joppa-Magnolia and Level responded to the blaze at the annex on Hays Street in Bel Air.Using 15 pieces of equipment, firefighters battled the fire for 90 minutes before bringing it under control at 11:30 p.m., authorities said.Bob Thomas, deputy chief state fire marshal, said the fire started in the ceiling above a furnace and janitorial closet, and spread across the ceiling to the walls.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Seventeen people were forced out of their homes last night when a two-alarm fire swept through an apartment building at the Town & Country complex in Ellicott City, county fire officials said.Sixty firefighters were called to 8745 Town & Country Blvd. about 6:10 p.m. and found the blaze in a ground-floor vacant apartment, said Battalion Chief Donald R. Howell of the fire and rescue service.The building houses six apartments where a total of 17 people reside, although only two were home when the fire started, Chief Howell said.