A fire in a detached garage in Joppa caused an estimated $100,000 damage Monday morning, two years to the day after another fire in another garage on the same property caused $15,000 damage.
Among three vehicles damaged was a Model T Ford, according to fire investigators. The other two were 1990s vintage Mustangs.
The fire Monday was reported at 10:53 a.m. in the 500 block of Magnolia Road. The cause is under investigation, but State Fire Marshal's Office spokesman Oliver Alkire said "preliminarily everything appears to be accidental."
Investigators still have a number of steps to go through in their investigation.
"Certainly red flags go up when there are two fires on the same property. They're raised even more when it's on the same date. And it further increases when one is within 90 minutes of the last fire," Alkire said.
The first fire was reported at 12:11 p.m. Feb. 9, 2013 and was ruled accidental, Alkire said.
In that fire, the owner of the garage was trying to cut a lug nut off a trailer hitch using a propane torch, he said. Sparks landed on a carpeted area and the owner put out the fire with an extinguisher then closed up the garage and left for the day.
Smoke was later discovered coming from the garage and the fire department responded to put out the fire.
"That was a very small fire," Alkire said.
That garage was rebuilt by the owner, who was listed as Christa R. Bahre on the notice of investigation issued by the fire marshal's office two years ago.
Monday's fire was a three-bay garage built on the property since the first fire, Alkire said. The owners are listed as Randy and Christa Bahre.
The began inside the garage, in the ceiling, preliminary investigation indicates, he said. The rest of the incident is under investigation.
"The investigator has to do quite a few other steps before making final determination," he said.
In every fire, he said, fire marshals have a very systematic approach to their investigation.
"It's not out of the norm, it's something we do on every single investigation," he said.
Fire marshals will reevaluate the fire two years ago, he said, but that case is considered closed.
In Monday's fire, a 1993 Ford Mustang and a 1996 Ford Mustang suffered damage in addition to the Model T, according to a news release.
The vehicles sustained smoke, soot and water damage, but not fire damage, Alkire said, adding they belonged to the garage owners' grandfather.
The estimated loss from the damage to the vehicles is $70,000, according to investigators, while the estimated damage to the structure is $30,000.
It took about 25 firefighters from Joppa-Magnolia, Abingdon and Kingsville volunteer fire companies and Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department about 25 minutes to control the blaze.