A one-alarm fire set by a child playing with a lighter displaced a Marriottsville family of six Monday night.

Howard County fire officials said the 9:21 p.m. fire in the 1400 block of Marriottsville Road, a little more than a mile south of the Carroll County line, caused $30,000 in damage to the home.

Heidi Clark told fire officials that she was on the second floor of her home Monday night when she saw her 4-year-old son running from an adjacent room. When she approached the room, she saw smoke and fire near the bed, said Sgt. Robert Wisemen of the Howard County Fire and Rescue Service.

Ms. Clark escaped with her son and three other children before the fire worsened. The Clark family has been staying with relatives since the fire.

Units from West Friendship, Ellicott City and Bethany in Howard County and Sykesville put the fire out by by 10:35 p.m., Sergeant Wisemen said.

Brian Eckoff, 18, a volunteer at the West Friendship station, was taken to Howard County Hospital, where he was treated for heat exhaustion and released.

POLICE

* Sykesville: A resident of Violet Court in Sykesville reported to state police that someone broke a window of his vehicle and stole a stereo system and other articles on Monday. He estimated the loss at $3,730.