Fire And Smoke

Smoldering ashes from a wood stove are to blame for a two-alarm house fire yesterday afternoon in Severn, Anne Arundel fire officials said. Emergency crews were called to the two-story home in the 500 block of Eason Drive after a woman on the second floor noticed smoke outside her window, said Capt. Michael Cox, a Fire Department spokesman. Firefighters who arrived on the scene reported that fire and smoke had engulfed the home's rear porch, Cox said. Cox said ashes from the home's wood stove had been disposed of in a plastic bucket on the porch and that the container ignited from the heat of the embers.

A four-alarm house fire early Friday in Cumberland has claimed the lives of two young sisters, according to an afternoon statement from the Maryland State Fire Marshal. Paige M. Ford, 7, was rescued through a window on the second story of the row house. She was suffering cardiac arrest, received CPR at the scene and was taken to Western Maryland Regional Medical, where she was pronounced dead. Her 4-year-old sister, Jymera D. Ford, was missing for several hours. Firefighters located her body in a second-floor bedroom.

A single-alarm fire -- possibly started by a toaster -- raced through a kitchen in a third-floor apartment in Columbia's Village of Long Reach Saturday morning, a county fire spokesman said.No one was injured in the fire, which was reported at 9:15 a.m. at the Locust Park Apartments in the 8800 block of Flowerstock Row, said Sgt. Robert Wiseman, a spokesman for the county Fire Department.The fire started in the kitchen and quickly spread to the apartment's dining room, Sergeant Wiseman said.

A woman died Monday night in a fire that destroyed a ranch-style home in Woodlawn, the Baltimore County Fire Department said. The victim's name was withheld pending notification of family members. A Fire Department communications supervisor said the woman was declared dead at the scene. Her body was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Baltimore for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Reported at 5:43 p.m., the single-alarm fire quickly raced through the L-shaped single-story dwelling in the 2000 block of Royal Court Drive near Windsor Mill Road and was filled with fire and smoke when the first of at least 20 pieces of equipment from stations between Pikesville and Catonsville responded.

Four townhomes were severely damaged in an intense blaze that began about 8:35 a.m. yesterday in the 6900 block of McClean Blvd. in Northeast Baltimore, city fire officials said. Four other adjacent townhomes on the block sustained fire and smoke damage that was not as serious, said Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman. No residents were injured, Cartwright said, but a city firefighter was treated for a minor leg injury. With strong winds fanning the flames, the four-alarm fire in the Dutch Village Townhomes community was brought under control at 9:50 a.m., Cartwright said.

The city-owned apartment building where a fire claimed the life of a 56-year-old woman and injured 13 people Thursday morning did not have a sprinkler system, which is required in high-rise housing complexes. But because the Lakeview Towers building at 727 Druid Park Lake Drive, across from Druid Lake, was built in 1970, before a code that requires sprinklers in each apartment took effect, it was exempted from the new rules and never updated with the added fire prevention. Fire officials said the blaze started in the third-floor apartment of Tuyla Warren, who died after being taken to Maryland General Hospital.

County fire investigators are still looking for whoever hurled two Molotov cocktails through the window of an assistant principal's office at Arundel High School yesterday morning and caused damage estimated at $15,000, a Fire Department spokesman said.One of the Molotov cocktails exploded, said Lt. Robert Kornmann, a spokesman for the department. Fire Department dispatchers received a call about a building fire at 1001 Annapolis Road at 4:13 a.m., Lieutenant Kornmann said. Four engines, two trucks and 24 firefighters brought the blaze under control at 5:37 a.m. Lieutenant Kornmann said.

Six residents of two homes in the 3400 block of Old York Road in north Baltimore were displaced today after a two-alarm fire caused extensive damage to the dwellings, above. Fire officials said a mother and her three children who lived at 3412 Old York Road and two residents of apartments at 3410 escaped the fire, which was reported about 7:45 a.m.Brenda Campbell, of 3412, said she heard a smoke alarm and saw fire and smoke outside her bedroom window. She and her children, Christina, 11, Steven, 9, and Brenda Lee, 2, fled the house.

A lighted candle that ignited a curtain was blamed for a three-alarm fire Saturday night in a Glen Burnie apartment complex that displaced 20 families and caused an estimated $500,000 damage, a spokesman for the county Fire Department said yesterday.No injuries were reported.Capt. Robert Kornmann, the spokesman, said the flame from the candle set a curtain on fire in a second-floor bedroom in a unit at Heritage Hill Regency Club Apartments in the 6300 block of Smithy Square.He said the fire quickly spread to 19 other apartments in five buildings, destroying one apartment building and causing severe fire and smoke damage to four others.

A two-alarm fire at a Parkville apartment complex last night destroyed a three-story building with 12 units and severely damaged two apartments in adjoining structures. All of the units involved were occupied, leaving 14 families in Doncaster Village displaced. Most had found temporary shelter within hours, fire officials said. No injuries were reported, although one firefighter was treated at the scene for illness related to exertion. Investigators determined that the fire was started by careless smoking in a third-floor apartment in the 9300 block of Hallsboro Circle.

Two people were killed early yesterday in a fire at an East Baltimore corner grocery store. Firefighters responded to the report of a fire in the 2400 block of Jefferson St. at 12:30 a.m., said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman. They found heavy fire and smoke at the two-story brick store, which has an apartment above it. When they searched the building, they found a man and woman who were unconscious and not breathing in the front room on the second floor, Cartwright said.

At first, Monique Holmes thought the noise that shook her awake about 6:30 a.m. yesterday came from her alarm clock. But then she saw smoke filling her second-floor West Baltimore apartment and realized that the blaring sound was the smoke detector. She yelled for her young children, Marcus and Michael Clark, who jumped from their beds and ran into her room. They opened windows and gulped in fresh air. Holmes called 911 while her friend, Cherisse Hamlett, shouted to people below to prepare to catch the children in case they jumped.

They crawled into the burning rowhouse on their hands and knees, advancing beneath fire and smoke, moving straight into an overwhelming heat that pressed in from all sides. They swept into darkness, each sealed head-to-toe in nearly 70 pounds of protective gear, breathing compressed air delivered from the tanks on their backs to the masks on their faces. The Baltimore firefighters who charged through the front door of a blazing Cecil Avenue rowhouse yesterday entered with a fire hose hurling about 100 gallons of water per minute.

Damage was estimated in the millions of dollars as a three-alarm blaze destroyed a large Southeast Baltimore warehouse yesterday evening. Fire investigators were expected to enter the ruins of the Adcor Industries warehouse in the 900 block of S. Grundy St. this morning, seeking the cause of the blaze that erupted shortly after the last employee had left for the day about 5 p.m., according to Chief Kevin Cartwright, a city Fire Department spokesman....

A two-alarm fire at a Parkville apartment complex last night destroyed a three-story building with 12 units and severely damaged two apartments in adjoining structures. All of the units involved were occupied, leaving 14 families in Doncaster Village displaced. Most had found temporary shelter within hours, fire officials said. No injuries were reported, although one firefighter was treated at the scene for illness related to exertion. Investigators determined that the fire was started by careless smoking in a third-floor apartment in the 9300 block of Hallsboro Circle.

Smoldering ashes from a wood stove are to blame for a two-alarm house fire yesterday afternoon in Severn, Anne Arundel fire officials said. Emergency crews were called to the two-story home in the 500 block of Eason Drive after a woman on the second floor noticed smoke outside her window, said Capt. Michael Cox, a Fire Department spokesman. Firefighters who arrived on the scene reported that fire and smoke had engulfed the home's rear porch, Cox said. Cox said ashes from the home's wood stove had been disposed of in a plastic bucket on the porch and that the container ignited from the heat of the embers.

The American Red Cross is assisting three Carroll County families who were displaced in two fires yesterday morning, authorities said. A two-alarm fire destroyed an apartment building on North Main Street in Union Bridge, displacing two families. The occupants, five adults and one child, escaped unharmed, authorities said. The fire was reported about 4:30 a.m. by a motorist, authorities said. The loss was estimated at $50,000. Nine fire companies from Carroll and Frederick counties responded to the blaze.

Damage was estimated in the millions of dollars as a three-alarm blaze destroyed a large Southeast Baltimore warehouse yesterday evening. Fire investigators were expected to enter the ruins of the Adcor Industries warehouse in the 900 block of S. Grundy St. this morning, seeking the cause of the blaze that erupted shortly after the last employee had left for the day about 5 p.m., according to Chief Kevin Cartwright, a city Fire Department spokesman....

Four townhomes were severely damaged in an intense blaze that began about 8:35 a.m. yesterday in the 6900 block of McClean Blvd. in Northeast Baltimore, city fire officials said. Four other adjacent townhomes on the block sustained fire and smoke damage that was not as serious, said Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman. No residents were injured, Cartwright said, but a city firefighter was treated for a minor leg injury. With strong winds fanning the flames, the four-alarm fire in the Dutch Village Townhomes community was brought under control at 9:50 a.m., Cartwright said.

The city-owned apartment building where a fire claimed the life of a 56-year-old woman and injured 13 people Thursday morning did not have a sprinkler system, which is required in high-rise housing complexes. But because the Lakeview Towers building at 727 Druid Park Lake Drive, across from Druid Lake, was built in 1970, before a code that requires sprinklers in each apartment took effect, it was exempted from the new rules and never updated with the added fire prevention. Fire officials said the blaze started in the third-floor apartment of Tuyla Warren, who died after being taken to Maryland General Hospital.