The State Fire Marshal and other agencies are seeking eyewitnesses who were at Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area when a massive brush fire started there last Tuesday.
The brush fire consumed nearly 700 acres around the state-protected wildland in Owings Mills and drew a massive fire response that stretched overnight to extinguish flames. Investigators are asking anyone who was in the area of the Serpentine Trail near Soldiers Delight Overlook off Deer Park Road between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. on April 4 to call them at 410-386-3050.
Anyone who was in the area on the Serpentine Trail behind the visitor center on the afternoon of April 2 also is asked to call. The Maryland State Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources, Baltimore County Police’s fire investigation division and the Baltimore Environmental Police are assisting in the investigation.
The fire, which is considered to be the largest fire in Baltimore County in the past 50 years, started around 3 p.m. April 4 in the 5100 block of Deer Park Road of the Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area. No homes were damaged, but dozens of families were evacuated from Reisterstown and Owings Mills.
“The only true natural cause of wildfires in the state of Maryland is lightning. Other than that, it’s all human-caused,” Maryland Forest Service Fire Specialist Gilbert Wagner said at an April 5 news conference. “Whether it is accidental or somebody trying to burn something down, they’re all human-caused.”
The 1,900-acre Soldiers Delight is home to more 39 rare, threatened, or endangered plant species as well as rare insects, rocks and minerals, according to a state website. It’s the largest remaining so-called serpentine ecosystem in the eastern United States, which means it’s underlain by serpentinite, an oceanic rock.