Are people setting fire to Harford adult-entertainment shops to try to drive them out of the county? Owners of some of the porn stores wondered Wednesday. After all, in a nine-month span, arson destroyed three of the shops.

Early Tuesday morning, fire gutted the Express Videos in the 2100 block of Belair Road in Fallston. The state fire marshal’s office has ruled the fire an arson, but said it was not connected to the two other fires, which happened at shops along Route 40 between Aberdeen and Havre de Grace earlier this year.

“I’m really upset about this,” said George Dail, owner of the building he rented to the Fallston bookstore’s owners for more than 20 years. “They were harming no one.

“I asked the state fire marshal if somebody has a mad on for burning adult bookstores,” Dail said. “I know people crazy about abortion will burn down clinics, but we can’t pass laws to control morals. … I would hate to think it was that.”

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Deputy Chief Jason Mowbray said investigators had not yet identified suspects or made arrests as of Wednesday. Security-camera footage from nearby businesses may lead investigators to one or more suspects, who apparently lit fires on the front porch and near the back of the sprawling structure, authorities said.

Scott Welsh, an employee at another Express Videos outlet in Belcamp, said adult bookstores have long faced opposition in the county from church groups and county officials.

Years ago, he said: “There was a place that tried to open up in Edgewood, between the McDonald’s and the Burger King. They got picketed constantly and had to shut down. … Ever since, then there’s been a fire here, a protest there.”

At the Adult Novelty Corporation, along Route 40 outside Aberdeen, employees said the store had shifted to staying open 24 hours after a July 1 arson damaged its exterior.

Farther up Route 40, another adult bookstore has yet to reopen since it was closed by fire in January.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com