24 People Temporarily Displaced After Bel Air Apartment Fire

Two dozen people had to leave their homes Monday night when a fire broke out in a Bel Air apartment building.

Around 11:48 p.m. a neighbor in the 1300 block of Scottsdale Drive in Bel Air noticed a fire on the second-floor balcony of a four-story apartment building in that block, according to a release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office and a post by spokesman Rich Gardiner on the official Harford County Fire and EMS media Facebook page.

The fire went from from the second-floor balcony up to the third-floor balcony, but did not get inside the building, Gardiner wrote.

Firefighters from the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company arrived at the scene and quickly contained the fire, but not before the blaze caused about $25,000 damage to the building, the release states.

Several people had to be evacuated from the building, but no injuries were reported, according to Gardiner's post. Twenty-four people were temporarily displaced due to the fire, Gardiner wrote.

Investigators with the fire marshal's office believe the blaze started when a cigarette or cigarette ash was improperly discarded.