Fire Destroys Barn With Controversial 'Trump' Sign: Report

LOTHIAN, MD — Investigators with the Anne Arundel County Fire Department are working to determine the cause of a fire early Monday morning that destroyed a barn on Farmhouse Lane.

Approximately 60 firefighters coped with intense heat and humidity to put out the blaze, but the barn and its contents were declared a total loss.

An 8-foot-by-4-foot homemade 'Trump' sign, in red block letters, sat on the barn's roof, placed there by property owner David Riggs, a supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The sign drew controversy several months ago when Anne Arundel zoning officials issued a citation to Riggs for displaying the sign; they said it violated an ordinance, the Annapolis Capital Gazette reported Monday.

But County Executive Steve Schuh intervened, and county officials rescinded the citation, according to the Capital Gazette.

At 1:45 a.m. Monday, Anne Arundel County firefighters responded to the report of the fire in the 200 block of Farmhouse Lane. They arrived to find the large barn completely on fire and already starting to collapse, the fire department said.

The firefighters requested help from neighboring jurisdictions "due to the high heat and humidity conditions," the Anne Arundel fire department said.

About 60 firefighters from Anne Arundel, Calvert and Prince George’s counties, and the City of Annapolis, got the fire under control in about an hour. It took several more hours for the firefighters to extinguish hot spots within the structure, and the last units left the scene at about 6:30 a.m., the fire department said.

Paramedics transported one Anne Arundel firefighter to the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis for the treatment of a heat-related illness. "His condition is not believed serious," the fire department said.

Members of the Anne Arundel department's Fire and Explosives Investigation Unit are probing the cause of the fire, and no dollar estimate of the damage has been made, the department said.

Images: A fire early Monday destroyed a barn on Farmhouse Lane in Lothian (AACFD).