Three fires in six days in Howard County — one each in Mount Airy, Woodbine and Columbia — ended with buildings destroyed and damaged, but no injuries reported.

Firefighters were called at 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 28 to a home in the 16000 block of Old Frederick Road, in Mount Airy, which was fully engulfed in flames and soon collapsed, according to Jackie Cutler, spokeswoman for the county Department of Fire and Rescue Services.

The fire was brought under control after more than an hour. The building was vacant and had no sprinklers or smoke alarms inside, Cutler said.

On Jan. 1, firefighters from Howard, Carroll, Frederick and Montgomery counties were called at about 1 p.m. to a barn fire in the 2600 block of Jennings Chapel Road in Woodbine. The barn, which was about 100 feet by 50 feet, was completely engulfed in flames, though the livestock that had been inside were evacuated before the fire departments arrived, Cutler said.

Finally, on Jan. 2, firefighters were called at about 1:30 p.m. for a fire that started in the basement of a home on Walnut Grove in Columbia and spread to the first floor. The blaze took about 30 minutes to be brought under control, according to department spokesman Eric Proctor.

The house's five residents, who were not home at the time of the fire, have been offered shelter by the local Red Cross chapter, Proctor said. He said the house was "heavily damaged" and probably would be uninhabitable for several months.

The causes of all three fires remain under investigation, according to Cutler.