A group of local children playing in the woods on Thursday afternoon discovered a barn fire on the Emily Bayless Graham Park in Abingdon.
Just before 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, emergency personnel were dispatched to Wheel Road West, between Wheel Road and Holly Wreath Drive, in Abingdon for a reported fire in a vacant barn on county-owned property. The vacant barn fire is one of three structures on the property, which is owned by Harford County Parks and Recreation and is slated for a future park area.
Local juveniles were playing paintball in the woods when they observed smoke and later discovered the fire on the exterior structure of the barn. Heavy timber construction and the quick response of Harford County firefighters containing the fire contributed to only minor damage to the barn. A half-dozen firefighters from the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call and had the single-alarm fire under control within 5 minutes.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal estimated the fire caused $1,000 in damage to the structure. There were no injuries reported.
The preliminary cause remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Northeast Regional Office at 410-836-4844.
How long before we learn that the juveniles actually started the fire??????
Does it really matter who started the fire? 110 acres of wooded land that will be desecrated soon enough.
Incorrect. The land is already set aside as public open space. It will be a park.
Is that the Center for the Arts property? Weren’t they supposed to break ground in 2016 (or 2014, or 2011) using the $3 million that they’ve raised since 2005? I guess if any of THEIR assets caught fire, we would have lost 3 signs and a park bench.
Incorrect. The land for the CFA is on the other side of Route 24. I think they only have 1 sign.
Thanks for the clarification Noble.
By the way, someone joked at a meeting I attended the other day that those CFA signs cost almost $1 million a piece (when they thought it was 3 signs). They were making a joke, but then again, the unaccountability is pretty sad. Excuse me, its not Harford CFA anymore. I’m told that the PT Barnum’s in charge over there just changed the name to “Maryland” Center for the Arts. I guess they’re realizing that there’s a finite amount of suckers in the county.
I know how important the slightest of details are on the internet. When I drove by on 24 the other day, I counted a total of three signs. Two, however, were adjoining and could have easily been construed as one.
No hair left unsplit 😉
Thanks for clearing that up. Now, what about those crowd size numbers at last Fridays inauguration?
The property is situated on both sides of Route 24, south of Wheel Road and the Festival at Bel Air shopping center. 69 acres east of Route 24 is to be used as parkland and 41 acres west of the road will be the site of the arts center.
the Problem with the Art center is that 41 acre portion of the property may revert back to the trust in 2018 (maybe as early as this Feb) and can then be re-designated for a different use depending on the trustee’s wishes. If money is not raised in time and no ground is broken to start construction this will probably happen. Given the problems the CFA has had, this is most likely.
the 69 acre portion used for the park should be accessible to residents now, but no significant efforts have been made to establish trails or building on the site.
this property will most likely go the way of everything else in this county and be developed. after all it is in the development envelope, and no zoning proposals have been made to give an exception to keep the land from being developed. Any requests for help with funding has died at the state level.
the government will do what ever it can to ensure the property is not used as Miss Graham intended, but rather used for more housing as it is too valuable for a park and art center.
in 10 years both sides will have houses on it.
I would just like to know if, before they signed up with CFA, the new CFA board members and dancers did ANY homework on what an embarrassment this CFA crew has been. Its now 11 years. Over $2.5 million raised. Payoff: a few signs and a dirt path.
And the PT Barnum CEO changed the name to Maryland Center for the Arts. Priceless. The new name should have been: “HCOEGEYP” ” The Harford Center for Organizing an Expensive Gala Each Year, Period”