Bel Air House Fire Was Intentionally Set: State Fire Marshal

BEL AIR, MD — The Maryland State Fire Marshal has determined that a house fire at a single-family home in Bel Air Tuesday night was set intentionally, according to a notice of investigation issued by the agency.

The fire, which took place in the 700 block of Bedford Ave., started in a first-floor storage closet and was discovered by one of the residents of the home, the report stated. Bel Air firefighters remained on the scene around 8:15 and the fire was under control in less than five minutes, the fire marshal’s investigation stated.

The fire did an estimated $1,000 in damage and sent one of the residents to a local hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to a news release. As of now, the cause of the fire is being listed as being incendiary and the state fire marshal is still investigating the details of who started the fire.

Matthew Stevens, deputy chief, wrote in an email on Wednesday that deputy fire marshals are working a lot of angles of the "who, what and why" set the fire as well as determining if it was set with malice, which would meet the legal definition of arson.