Less than 24 hours after fire destroyed a large office/shop/storage building at John Brown’s Auto Body at 19529 Old York Road in White Hall, friends helped clean up the area and neighbors delivered pizzas and sodas.

The two-alarm fire was called in at 1:42 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, according to Lt. John Cromwell, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokesman. The building was already in flames when the first crews arrived. In all, 70 firefighters and 30 pieces of equipment from Baltimore County, Harford County and York County, Pa., assisted with the blaze that was not under control until 5:17 p.m., Cromwell said.

John Brown said he and his wife were on their way to Hanover for a meal after church when they got a call that “something was happening at the shop.”

“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” he said on Monday, March 16 as he stood by the still-smoldering ruins. “Nobody was hurt fighting the fire, and we have the best friends and neighbors you could ask for.”
Brown said the business has been in White Hall since 1936. He said the wooden building with a metal roof measured 66 feet by 114 feet and contained at least seven cars that were old and valuable.

Damage to the building is estimated at $275,000 and the contents are estimated at $1.5 million, said fire department spokeswoman Elise Armacost. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, she said.
Baltimore County Hazardous Materials team and Maryland Department of Environment personnel were called to the scene because of the hazardous materials associated with the business.

Brown said he hopes to clear away space to bring in an office trailer, reestablish phone lines and be back in business as soon as possible.

“All of our records were in there, and so were our insurance papers,” he said. “But, if the Good Lord is willing, we’ll start up again.”

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