Arson at Country Boy Market Causes $30k in Damage

(Montgomery Community Media/Grace Manson)

A suspicious fire early Monday morning damaged two abandoned vehicles parked near the historic Country Boy Market in Silver Spring, causing an estimated $30,000 in damage in what officials are calling a case of arson.

Investigators have determined this to be an arson case. No suspects have been identified.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews responded to the 2200 block of Randolph Road at approximately 3:30 a.m. for “reports of multiple fires,” according to MCFRS Chief Spokesperson Pete Piringer.

The Scene

When Montgomery Community Media visited the scene of the arson Monday afternoon, the box truck still smelled of smoke. It was parked alongside bags of mulch stacked on the perimeter of Country Boy’s parking lot. There were no signs of caution tape, while shattered glass and truck debris remained scattered across the pavement.

The van, sitting in the lot behind the truck, was in a similar condition: charred amidst its debris. MCM reached out to the point of contact for the property on which the van was parked, but were denied entry.

The Circumstances

Both vehicles involved had been sitting outside the store for a long time, according to James Montgomery Barnsley IV, great-grandson of Country Boy’s founder. He described the two vehicles, which were “completely different” from each-other, involved in the arson.

The box truck, belonging to a furniture company, had expired tags and was being used for storage. The van also had expired registration tags, back from 2019, he said, “so that van’s been sitting there for a long time.”

Investigators looking into the case “believe that [the vehicle fires] were intentionally set [on fire],” Daniel Ogren, MCFRS Public Safety Communications Center Assistant Chief told us.

The Damage

(MCFRS/Pete Piringer)

The exposed wood seen in the image featuring the “Country Boy” sign was from the fire department’s efforts to isolate the fire, Barnsley IV said. “That’s all cut out with a saw… to make sure it didn’t [spread],” he told Montgomery Community Media.

Ogren said the vehicle adjacent to the building caused “damage to the exterior of the building, [but firefighters] were able to extinguish it before it was able to get into the structure.”

There was no damage to the iconic Sliver Spring staple’s interior, noted Piringer. Regardless, the interior had already been closed since before the fires.

Barnsley said they plan to continue with business as usual. When asked about how Monday morning’s incident affects Country Boy Market, Barnsley said, “it doesn’t.” He explained that the damage done wasn’t destructive enough to prevent the market from doing business.

Still, the area sustained $20,000 in structural damage, along with an estimated $10,000 in damage to the vehicles nearby, according to Piringer. There were no injuries from the fire.

Both Piringer and Ogren said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service fire and explosives investigators at 240-777-2263.