Fire Investigators

A man who was injured in a Southeast Baltimore rowhouse fire Wednesday has died, a Fire Department spokesman said yesterday. John Carnochan, 43, suffered second- and third-degree burns after he was trapped in a room on the second floor of a home in the 600 block of Savage St., said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman. Firefighters rescued him and a woman who uses a wheelchair. Carnochan and the woman were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. A third victim refused medical treatment for cuts, Cartwright said.

Fire investigators are unsure what caused an explosion that tore through a hazardous-materials recovery plant and rocked Southwest Baltimore early yesterday -- the second blast in 30 days at an area facility owned by Safety-Kleen Corp.Just after midnight, more than 60 Baltimore firefighters responded to the plant at 1438 De Soto Road in a Morrell Park industrial park to battle a stubborn fire that followed the explosion. The blaze quickly went to two alarms and took nearly two hours to control.

The three-alarm fire that ruined a three-story home that was Annapolis' first synagogue caused $150,000 to $200,000 in damage, city fire officials said yesterday.Fire investigators have not determined the cause of the fire Monday night, but a tenant in the building thinks it might have been started by a candle on the second floor.Yesterday, historic preservationists said the fire places more emphasis on work being done by the recently appointed city Commission to Study Fire Safety, which will meet today at the Taylor Avenue fire station.

A January fire that destroyed a Northwest Baltimore house and killed five people was not the work of an arsonist, top police officials said yesterday after a meeting with the fire chief."

State police and fire investigators were reviewing physical evidence yesterday -- seeking answers to a standoff that resulted in the fatal shooting Tuesday morning of a Woodbine man.Daniel E. James, 33, was shot by state troopers about 9 1/2 hours after four teen-agers reported seeing an armed man walking around a blazing fire at his parents' home in the 6500 block of Day View Drive.State police and fire marshals are investigating the shooting and the cause of the fire. An internal-affairs review of troopers' actions also is under way.Authorities said the incident began about 11 p.m. Monday.

Fire destroyed a fully furnished new home in Crofton yesterday 10 days after a Glen Burnie couple purchased it.Fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blaze, which caused no injuries.Alex and Janet Yeung didn't get to spend even a night in their dream home in the 2500 block of Chelmsford Drive before it was gone -- a $300,000 loss, fire officials said.Charred sticks pointed at the sky where a gabled roof once covered the two-story structure the Yeungs thought they would call home.

The owner of a West Baltimore pharmacy that burned Thursday morning said yesterday he will open a temporary store across the street and is considering rebuilding on the corner where the store had stood since 1910.Dwayne Weaver, who has owned Keystone Pharmacy for 12 years, has a voice-mail system set up to take prescriptions from residents of the Penn North and Druid Heights neighborhoods who depended on his store for their medication.The prescriptions are being filled at another drugstore and Weaver is delivering them to his customers' homes.

A man armed with a handgun robbed a Millersville fast-food restaurant Friday and forced the employees into a freezer, county police said.Michael Hedgecoth, an employee of Wendy's in the 8200 block of Veterans Highway, told police that a man with a small gun approached him about 1 a.m. as he was mopping the dining area.The man ordered Hedgecoth into the kitchen, where they encountered the manager, Funn Chen, and another employee. The gunman ordered both employees into a walk-in freezer and forced Chen to open the safe, police said.

State fire investigators are still probing a suspicious fire early Saturday morning at the former St. Mary's College seminary in Ilchester, said Allen L. Ward, deputy chief state fire marshal.The five-story building has been abandoned since the late 1970s, when it was used as a seminary and retreat for priests of the Redemptorist order.The flames -- which devoured the structure -- were raging when firefighters arrived about 5 a.m., Ward said. Ward said investigators should know the cause of the blaze Thursday or Friday.

Leaders of Baltimore's fire union charged yesterday that the city's recent closing of three fire stations near the site of Sunday's fatal blaze that killed four members of a family might have been a factor in their deaths.Stephan G. Fugate, president of the Baltimore Fire Officers' Local No. 964, pointed to the closing of the stations in the area of North and Park avenues, describing the level of protection there as dangerously low."In that particular area, I wouldn't hesitate to use the word 'criminal,' " Fugate said.

The 7-year-old girl fell asleep Friday night, safe on a neighbor's couch. But shortly before midnight, her mother picked her up and took her to the home where they were staying, a rowhouse where the electricity had been shut off for more than a year. "I don't know why she'd do that, in the dark," said the neighbor, Keisha Council, 26. "She should have left her here." About two hours later, the rowhouse in the 1400 block of N. Broadway was an inferno, and the girl, whom neighbors knew as Regina, was trapped inside.

A pair of fires in Baltimore County yesterday morning damaged two homes, but no injuries were reported. The first fire was reported at 4:02 a.m. in Rosedale. Baltimore County fire crews responded to the 9100 block of Lennings Lane for a report of a fire at a single-family dwelling. All occupants of the house escaped, authorities said. An estimate of the damage was not available. State property records indicate that the home is owned by Oluchi N. Ukomadu. Several minutes after the first call, at 4:09 a.m., county fire dispatchers received a report of a two-story house fire in the 11900 block of Woodland Drive in the Chestnut Ridge area.

A man died yesterday after catching fire behind a Fells Point building where scenes of Homicide: Life on the Street used to be filmed. The incident happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. near Broadway and Thames Street, a well-traveled thoroughfare. The man, whose identity was not available, was ablaze when firefighters arrived at the scene, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman. Firefighters extinguished the flames, but the man died. His clothed body was found about 30 feet behind a fence blocking the area next to the harbor.

No one was injured when a parked car burst into flames yesterday at The Mall in Columbia, police and fire officials said. Just before 1:30 p.m., smoke began to pour from a 2000 Nissan Altima that was parked outside the food court area of the mall, according to fire and police officials at the scene. The owner of the car, Donald Gerbrick, said he parked at 1:21 p.m. Fire investigators said the cause of the fire was under investigation but said it appeared to be accidental. They added that that video surveillance footage shows that no one was around the car near the time of the blaze.

Fire investigators are trying to find out whether homeless people might have sparked a four-alarm fire that destroyed a large warehouse south of Camden Yards early yesterday. The blaze was reported at 1:30 a.m. by motorists on Interstate 695 who saw flames shooting from the building on the corner of Haines and Warner streets, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the Baltimore Fire Department. He said the "big, orange ball of fire, with a thick plume of smoke," was also visible from Interstates 95 and 395. More than 100 firefighters and support personnel were summoned to the fire, which tore through the building's roof and collapsed all but two exterior brick walls.

Fire destroys home near Parkton A fire of undetermined origin destroyed a home in the 900 block of Old Barn Road, off Falls Road, near Parkton early yesterday, authorities said. Elise Armacost, spokeswoman for the Baltimore County Fire Department, said that when the first unit from Parkton arrived after the 8:55 a.m. call, the two-story house was engulfed in flames. Armacost said the one-alarm fire required a tanker to be called in to supply water, which is typical in rural area fires.

O'Malley defends reasons for firing Gov. Martin O'Malley rebutted yesterday a former state worker's claims that he was fired for political reasons. Nelson Reichart, the former head of real estate for the Department of General Services, filed suit this week, contending that he was terminated in a purge of white Republicans from the agency. Reichart also said his firing was in retaliation for comments he made to The Sun about a Queen Anne's County land deal. The governor said privacy protections in personnel law prevent him from going into detail about the firing, but he said Reichart's accusations are untrue.

Fire investigators have identified the 46-year-old woman who died in a Harford County house fire Sunday and determined that a faulty air conditioner caused the blaze. Deana Lynn Farley died of smoke inhalation at her home on Main Street in Whiteford, investigators said. The fire started in the living room, where the window-mounted air conditioner ignited. Smoke and flames spread quickly throughout the wood-frame dwelling. Investigators said Farley, the sole occupant of the home, was trapped on the second floor.

A man who was injured in a Southeast Baltimore rowhouse fire Wednesday has died, a Fire Department spokesman said yesterday. John Carnochan, 43, suffered second- and third-degree burns after he was trapped in a room on the second floor of a home in the 600 block of Savage St., said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman. Firefighters rescued him and a woman who uses a wheelchair. Carnochan and the woman were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. A third victim refused medical treatment for cuts, Cartwright said.

Prince George's County fire investigators have determined that a malfunction in an electrical appliance caused the blaze that killed a University of Maryland student last week in his off-campus apartment, the Fire Department said yesterday. David Ellis, 22, a senior majoring in American studies, died at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park after firefighters found him unconscious and not breathing in his bedroom in the basement apartment where he lived with another student in the 7100 block of Rossburg Drive in College Park.