A 27-year-old Howard County firefighter and paramedic died early yesterday after she fell off the roof of the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Key Highway, authorities said.

Mary Elizabeth Rollins, who lived in the HarborView condominium complex in Federal Hill, was on the museum roof with a friend who worked as the museum's receptionist, said Roland H. Woodward, the museum director.

They got onto the roof from a staircase on the building's exterior and were trying to climb onto the museum's adjacent neon sign overlooking the water, Woodward said.

About 2:30 a.m., Rollins fell about 65 feet, said Officer Nicole Monroe, a city police spokeswoman.
She was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she was pronounced dead at 6:39 a.m., Monroe said.
"We have not ruled out the possibility that alcohol may have been a contributing factor," Monroe said.

Rollins, a four-year veteran of the department, worked at the Ellicott City No. 2 fire station, said Bill Mould, a spokesman for the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services. She was known as Mary Beth, Mould said.

"Everyone who knew her and worked with her, to the letter, described her as a stellar employee," Mould said.
An only child, Rollins grew up in the King George area of Virginia and came to the Baltimore area to study at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She graduated and was enrolled in a nursing program at Catonsville Community College at the time of her death, Mould said.

Rollins enjoyed competing in triathlons and playing softball, Mould said.
"She was just an all-around great person," he said.

"We're really devastated," he said. "There was simply no reason for them to be there."