Fire Investigators

A Pylesville man died of smoke inhalation after a small electrical fire in his bedroom Thursday afternoon, state fire marshals said Sheldon "Sam" Deller, 52, was killed when a fire broke out in the first floor bedroom of his home in the 5000 block of West Heaps Road in Pylesville. The 12:41 p.m. fire caused $200 damage to the two-story, wood frame dwelling, according to a news release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. Monitored Harford County emergency radio broadcasts reported a fire with rescue; however, the first arriving unit reported "nothing evident" showing outside of the dwelling.

Combustible materials stored too close to a furnace burst into flames and caused the October rowhouse fire that claimed five lives, Baltimore fire officials said Thursday. Investigators determined that the two-alarm fire began in the basement and spread quickly through the two-story brick home, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman. The chilly evening may have prompted the family to turn on the furnace, he said. The fire struck in the early morning hours of Oct. 11 and quickly destroyed 5601 Denwood Ave., an end-of-group home in the Frankford neighborhood.

A fire did minor damage to a storage shed in the Havre de Grace area Wednesday evening, according to fire investigators. Firefighters were sent to the 400 block of Robin Hood Road about 6:25 p.m. Wednesday after a neighbor reported a fire in a 8-by-10 foot wood frame shed on the property of Richard Forton, according to a notice of investigation from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. Twenty firefighters from the Susquehanna Hose Company of Havre de Grace brought the fire under control in 10 minutes, the fire marshal's office said.

Improperly discarded smoking material is blamed for a fire that damaged the exterior of a condo building in Bel Air late Monday night, according to fire investigators. The fire in the 1300 block of Scottsdale Drive did an estimated $25,000 damage to the exterior of the building, according a notice of investigation from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. The fire on the balcony of the four-story building was discovered by a neighbor shortly after 11:45 p.m., according to the state fire marshal's office, which said it took 20 firefighters about five minutes to bring the fire under control.

The word of the week, "hope," was written on a whiteboard for East Baltimore students - part of an after-school program on the site where an arsonist killed Angela Dawson, her husband and five of their children a decade ago. The children who come to the Dawson Family Safe Haven won't run into trouble like that, organizers say, not if their plan works. "Standing here now you can hear children laughing and talking," said Pamela V. Carter, a former city councilwoman who runs the programs in the home that was set afire by a drug dealer in retaliation for Dawson's complaints to police.

City fire officials continue the investigation to determine the source and cause of the fire that claimed the lives of four children and their grandmother Thursday in Northeast Baltimore. Autopsy results on the victims, who include Nancy Worrell, 55, and four children, who range in age from 1 to 7 years old, have not yet been released. "I would not expect anything for some time," fire department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said early Friday. "We simply must allow the fire investigators the appropriate time needed to thoroughly perform their investigation and await their final dispositions.

A city-owned playground in the Harwood neighborhood of North Baltimore that was substantially damaged in a fire last month and recently drew the attention of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will be rebuilt, according to city officials. A claim to replace the damaged parts of the playground was filed with the city's Office of Risk Management by the Department of Recreation and Parks, which operates the playground and about 100 others like it throughout the city, shortly after the fire occurred on Aug. 13, according to Gwendolyn Chambers, a recreation and parks spokeswoman.

City police and fire investigators say Molotov cocktails started two fires in Northeast Baltimore early Wednesday, one of which injured seven people at an apartment complex and displaced many more. Police are still seeking a motive, but said they do not believe the victims were targeted or the incidents were hate crimes. But because of the deadly potential of such attacks, patrols in the neighborhoods have been increased, police said, and the investigation has been made a priority.

An SUV was set on fire and a mailbox was blown up, both in the Perryman area Sunday, according to fire investigators. Around 6:30 p.m., a Yukon Denali XL was found completely consumed by flames in a field behind an industrial park in the 1400 block of Perryman Road in Perryman, according to a notice of investigation from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. It was unclear what year the vehicle was made or who owned it. The fire caused an estimated $13,000 in damages, the fire marshal's office reported.

One person died in a house fire early Sunday morning in Northwest Baltimore, officials reported. According to Baltimore City fire officials, crews were on the scene by 5 a.m., fighting "heavy fire conditions" in the 2900 block of Woodland Ave., in the Cylburn area near Pimlico Road. Firefighters said they found flames and smoke coming from the back of the home that quickly spread to the front. Firefighters who entered the wood-frame house to search for occupants found the body of a man who had died on the first floor, officials said.