Bowleys Quarters Brush Fire Sparks Eagle Alert

A large brush fire that burned for hours in Bowleys Quarters on April 2 put protected wildlife in jeopardy.

The property that went up in flames Tuesday on the 1000 block of Carroll Island Road caused two pairs of bald eagles to flee their nests, according to WJZ.

Bald eagles are a protected species, taken off the endangered species list in 2007, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are approximately 400 pairs of bald eagles that nest together in Maryland.

Drawn to habitats near undisturbed coastlines and rivers, bald eagles have made their home on Carroll Island, which the Environmental Protection Agency says is a designated bald eagle habitat.

Baltimore County public safety officials said that firefighters responded to the wildfire on Carroll Island Tuesday morning just before 10 a.m.

Later, helicopters were dispatched to pour water on Carroll Island out of concern for the bald eagles, the Baltimore News Journal reported.

Firefighters were called back to the scene three times for monitoring, WJZ reported.

The land where the fire broke out was owned by Aberdeen Proving Ground, which manages the designated Superfund site in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency. It had been used starting in World War I as a place for military testing.

A survey of the area will taken place once the ground has cooled from the fire, WZJ reported.

See Also:

• Multiple Crews Fight Brush Fire in Bowleys Quarters
• Maryland's Bald Eagle's Threatened by Wildfire (WJZ)