Three Alarm

Two adults were injured in a three-alarm fire that broke out early Monday at a Laurel apartment building, according to the Howard County Fire Department. One person was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center; the other to Laurel Regional Hospital. Fire officials said in a statement that neither victim suffered serious injuries; their names and ages were not divulged. Battalion Chief Eric Proctor said in a statement that firefighters were called to the apartment in the 9100 block of Blues Alley about 5:30 a.m. and had the blaze placed under control within 45 minutes.

A malfunctioning electric heater has been blamed for a three-alarm fire that extensively damaged a pharmacy and caused smoke damage to the Fells Point studio of Grace Hartigan, a renowned artist.The fire broke out in the front of the REVCO pharmacy at South Broadway and Eastern Avenue about 12:15 p.m. yesterday and quickly raced through much of the store. The smoke also reached Hartigan's upstairs art studio. Hartigan is an abstract impressionist whose works are featured in galleries and museums here and in other cities.

A Carroll County fire station caught fire Thursday morning after the snow-covered roof of its social hall collapsed and debris severed a natural gas line, a spokesman for the Sykesville Fire Department said. According to Dave Kreimer, the three-alarm blaze at the Sykesville Freedom Fire District destroyed the social hall, and caused damage to adjoining classrooms and administrative offices. The engine bays were smoke-filled, but not damaged. More than two dozen units from Carroll, Howard and Baltimore counties responded to the fire that broke around shortly before 9 a.m. It took nearly two hours for the fire to be brought under control, but Kreimer said that no one was injured.

More than 50 residents of a Middle River apartment complex who escaped a fire over the weekend were being assisted yesterday by American Red Cross officials and others in finding a place to live. Six families were temporarily sheltered at a local motel for two nights, said Red Cross spokeswoman Linnea Anderson. Others, she said, were given temporary homes in vacant apartments elsewhere in the complex or stayed with family or friends. Sunday night, a three-alarm fire spread through 24 apartments at the Commons at White Marsh in the 600 block of Sopwith Drive, Baltimore County fire officials said yesterday.

A three-alarm fire at the Bonnie Ridge Apartments in the Brooklandville area of Baltimore County caused $400,000 in damage yesterday and displaced seven families, a fire official said. No serious injuries were reported, but one man was taken to Sinai Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, said Lt. Bill Johns of the Baltimore County Fire Department. A malfunctioning hair dryer left on a sofa in one of the lower apartments is the suspected cause of the fire, said Mark Hubbard, division chief for the county Fire Department.

A three-alarm fire destroyed a historic wood and stone building early yesterday that formerly was the Greenmount train station, post office, general store and granary off Route 30.The building, used as an antiques and crafts shop between 1983 and 1993, has been vacant since then. Greenmount is just north of Hampstead.State fire marshals said the fire broke out on the east, or railroad track side, of the building and spread throughout the post-and-beam structure.The cause of the fire has not been determined, said K. Arthur McGhee, deputy state fire marshal, who estimated the age of the two-story building at about 125 years.

Arson was blamed for a three-alarm blaze that leveled the Sportsman's Hall roller skating rink in northwestern Baltimore County early yesterday, destroying a landmark and shocking longtime patrons.Between 150 and 200 firefighters from Baltimore and Carroll counties battled the blaze, which was reported at 4:54 a.m. and not declared under control until 7:03 a.m., fire officials said.Three cinder-block walls and heaps of rubble are all that remain of the 33-year-old building at 15500 Hanover Pike in Arcadia, near the Carroll County line.

A three-alarm fire that displaced 17 people in Perry Hall Friday night has been ruled accidental, fire officials said Monday. At about 8:15 p.m. Friday firefighters were called to the 9700 block of Haven Farm Road and found residents waiting outside a multiple-dwelling building. There were no injuries to civilians or firefighters, officials said, and all of the residents were able to find shelter with friends and relatives. About 100 firefighters fought the flames, which were brought under control by 10 p.m. Crews determined that the fire started in the ceiling above one of the third floor condominiums.

Annapolis firefighters today were investigating the second three-alarm blaze this week at an apartment complex in the Eastport neighborhood. Fire crews responded to a 5:13 a.m. call at the Watergate Village apartment complex at 620 Americana Drive, according to Battalion Chief Mike Lonergan, a department spokesman. The fire was contained approximately an hour after firefighters arrived on the scene. Two residents and a firefighter were injured in the blaze. The firefighter, who was not immediately identified, was at the end of a hose line when he fell through the floor of a second-story apartment, Lonergan said.

A 32-year-old man died yesterday in an early-morning Randallstown apartment fire that injured three others and forced dozens of trapped residents onto balconies gasping for air, fire officials said. Delano Thomas, who was killed in the three-alarm blaze that began about 4 a.m., lived in a ground-level apartment that was a group home for hearing-impaired adults. Three other men who lived in the home where the fire began were hospitalized, county officials said. About 20 residents of the Woodridge Apartments were rescued by firefighters who took them down from second- and third-story balconies on ladders, said Capt.