23 displaced in Eastport fire

Child playing with lighter leads to Harbour House blaze

By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer

Published 12/03/08

A 5-year-old playing with a lighter started a fire in an apartment building on Madison Street that led to 23 people being displaced Tuesday night, city fire officials said.

Paul W. Gillespie — The Capital A fire displaced 23 people last night on Madison Avenue. Housing Authority crews worked in the building this morning, and residents were staying elsewhere with the help of the Red Cross.

The blaze broke out at about 8:28 p.m. at 1215 Madison St., a building in the Annapolis Housing Authority's Harbour House community.

When city firefighters arrived they found heavy smoke coming out of an apartment in the building. The fire had started in a bedroom, said Lt. John Bowes, a city Fire Department spokesman.

"The child caught the bed on fire, which caught the room on fire," he said.

It took 24 firefighters about 10 minutes to put out the blaze. No one was injured.

The Red Cross was called to help the 11 adults and 12 children who live in the building. They were displaced because the fire affected electric and gas service for the entire building, Lt. Bowes said.

Damages were estimated at $100,000, he said.

The families were placed in a hotel last night and should be back in their homes by tomorrow.

Housing Authority crews were inspecting the building this morning and said they do not know when residents might be allowed to return.

Damages from the fire were not visible from the outside of the building. The building does not have sprinklers, Lt. Bowes said.

He reminded parents to keep an eye on children when it comes to fire safety.

"They shouldn't leave any matches or lighters lying around where children can get them," he said.

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amy brown - December 8, 2008

First of all I personally know this parent, and she is not a bad parent and she does not hang on the street corner,in fact quite the opposite.It is such a shame that there are people like you in the world today still! by the way if you think that the mentality of the annapolis housing is bad what are you??? There is something to think about.Have a blessed day! I WILL KEEP YOU IN MY PRAYERS!

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p. moore - baltimore, MD - Karma: Bad

Amy Brown - December 4, 2008

Dear Amy, You seem to have an issue with the so called...what you like to call"projects"...i.e. the attached comment made by you regarding a woman getting hit on the head at the Annapolis Mall that I have attached below. I'm just going to say what I said perviously to this hateful comment from 2 months ago and in regards to this new one. Not all of the people that live in the low income housing are criminals or "project trash" as you like to call them. As you know...not everybody in the town has money...so thank goodness for these so called "projects" so people can put an affordable roof over their heads. Stop assuming... try to be nice and thankful for what you have instead of making blanket statement about somebody you don't even know. Amy's previous post on a different article: Annapolis City Plow all the projects down in Annapolis City Robin Wood, Annapolis Gardens, Harbour House, Eastport Terrace, Annapolis Woods, Newtowne 20, and send them all to Baltimore, then there will be no crime !!!! AMY BROWN - ANNAPOLIS, MD

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Coley H - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Bad

Blame the Parent - December 4, 2008

Amy you are correct in no one got hurt, but prior to that you ask questions without answers and assume that this child was totally unsupervised, the parent may have been on a corner and then you refer to this person as Annapolis City Project Trash of which you spelled project wrong. How did you get all of this from a story about a fire,would you have said the same if the fire was in any other complex? No, as their have been many complex fires in other Annapolis dwellings. As a parent and a grandparent I know that if a child is out of your sight for one second ,anything can happen. I have had my kids and grands get into things and I was at home. One distraction such as answering the phone, or going to the bathroom is just enough time for a kid.Lighter's , matches, cleaning products, knives,medicines, etc should be out of a child's reach PERIOD !!!!

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M. SCOTT - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Bad

BLAME THE PARENT - December 4, 2008

Where was the parent supervision ? was the parent even home ? was the parent on the street corner all night and then went home to sleep ? well there is one good outcome and that is that no one got hurt and everyone got out safely !! There is Annapolis City prodject trash for ya!!

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AMY BROWN - ANNAPOLIS, MD - Karma: Neutral