Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2011 Fires and Incidents»4-Alarm 3811 Curtis Ave. 7-23-11

On Saturday, July 23, 2011 around 5:30 AM Engine 57 was returning from a medic run in their Curtis Bay neighborhood when they spotted smoke coming from the eaves of a 2 story corrugated steel building a few blocks north of their station. Upon further investigation of Kaufman Products Inc. located at 3811 Curtis Avenue, they found the building heavily charged with smoke and asked that the box be struck out with a second alarm. The 100’ x 100’ building housed a concrete products company and when companies forced their way into the building heavy fire was encountered in the rear of the building. Companies were not allowed to enter and exterior operations were started.
Automatic mutual aid is now in effect in the lower portion of Baltimore City and Anne Arundel companies were dispatched on the first alarm along with the city response.
About 25 minutes into the operation Battalion Chief 6 asked that a Haz Mat assignment be dispatched to test and monitor unknown substances that were in the building and coming out with the water being poured into the building.
As firefighters continued to battle the blaze several explosions rocked the building sending fire out of the side windows and heavy plumes of smoke through the roof.
At 6:00 AM a third alarm was struck out bringing more equipment and manpower. A fourth alarm was struck out around 45 minutes later.
As heavy fire continued to burn in the rear area of the building, around 8:00 AM a wall at the CD corner of the building collapsed sending a burst of flames and smoke throughout the rest of the building.
The fire was finally declared under control at 9:35 and crews remained on the scene throughout the rest of the day overhauling and trying to determine the cause.
One Battalion Chief was taken to the hospital from the scene with heat exhaustion. He was treated and released shortly afterward.