The cause of a fire in Barton is ruled accidental. According to the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office the fire broke out on Oct 30th at about 3pm in an upstairs bedroom of a two story single family home on Middle St. in Barton. An electric heater fell over onto its power cord causing the cord to get hot and ignite. Smoke alarms were present but failed to activate during the early stages of the fire and did not activate until fire suppression operations were underway. 40 firefighters were called to the scene and had the fire under control in about 10 minutes. One firefighter suffered non-life threatening injury. The fire caused about 30 thousand dollars in damage. The family was displaced and is being assisted by the American Red Cross.
