Two recent vehicle fires in Harford County, including one that is a suspected arson, are under investigation by the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
The suspected arson was reported around 6:50 p.m. Sunday in the 2000 block of Neal Road in Pylesville, according to a notice of investigation issued Monday.
The vehicle, a 2014 Dodge Dart, was discovered burning on the side of Neal Road. It was jointly owned by Jordan Harry, of Port Deposit, and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Blumenfeld, of Timonium, according to Senior Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire.
The vehicle had been stolen from Harry's residence in Port Deposit. Harry had been at his father's house all weekend, and he reported it stolen when he returned home Monday morning, Alkire said.
The fire started in the passenger area of the car and caused an estimated $15,000 in damage, according to the report.
About 30 firefighters from the Norrisville Volunteer Fire Company handled the blaze, which took 15 minutes to get under control, according to the report.
Anyone who has information on the fire should call the fire marshal's regional office in Bel Air at 410-836-4844.
The second fire was reported shortly before 1 a.m. in a camper trailer parked in the 600 block of Beards Hill Road in Aberdeen, according the Fire Marshal's Office.
The blaze caused an estimated $7,000 in damage to the 27-foot 2002 Forest River Wildwood camper and the contents inside, according to investigators. The trailer and contents are considered "a complete loss," according to the Fire Marshal's report.
Katie McCannon and her three children were living in the trailer, which had been placed at the rear of property owned by her father Dennis McCannon, Alkire said.
No one was in the trailer when the fire started – the children were in their grandparents' home, and Katie McCannon was at work, Alkire said.
She came home, opened the front door of the camper and found a "small, smoldering fire," according to the report.
McCannon and her father tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, but the fire spread too fast for them to fight it.
Opening the door caused the fire to spread "very quickly," Alkire said.
"They did make a valiant attempt to extinguish the fire," he said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but "we cannot rule out discarded smoking materials," Alkire noted.
He said there is no reason to suspect the fire was result of a criminal act, since the mother found "a slow, smoldering fire."
The Aberdeen Fire Department responded, and it took 10 minutes to get the fire under control.