Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2015 Fires and Incidents»Riots in Baltimore April 27-28, 2015

On the evening of April 27th Baltimore erupted in violence as hundreds of rioters looted stores, burned buildings and vehicles throughout the City.
It all started after weeks of protesting the death of 25 year old Freddie Gray, who suffered a spinal cord and other injuries after his arrest by Baltimore Police on April 12th. That case is still under investigation
The violence began hours after Gray’s funeral in West Baltimore despite pleas from the family that the protests remain peaceful. Protest groups marched from the Western District Police Station down to City Hall. After that the groups broke up and began spreading out into different areas of downtown and started blocking intersections to prevent traffic from moving. Some protestors began taunting police and attacking fans going to the Oriole game at Camden Yards.
Around 3:00PM schools began letting out in the Mondawmin area and kids began clashing and fighting with the Police while roaming the streets setting fires to vehicles and trash cans. Engine 52 had to abandon their house and stage with other units outside the troubled area to regroup and respond into a location with a police escort. Earlier in the week, police had been expecting trouble in this area and were prepared with additional troops equipped with riot gear. Mutual aid companies were already in the City to supplement the Fire Department units as needed.
In the area of North and Pennsylvania Avenues swarms of protestors began taunting police. Two MTA Police vehicles were set ablaze bringing in firefighters to extinguish them. As they started to put the fires out rioters started to pelt the police that were protecting the firefighters, with bricks, rocks and bottles. The firefighters were then told to abandon their position and leave the area. After this they would not bother to extinguish vehicle or trash fires unless they were threatening structures.
As the sun started to set the violence began to escalate. Rioters began to break into the CVS store on North Avenue and proceeded to loot everything in it. About 45 minutes later it was set on fire bringing firefighters back into that neighborhood to quell the blaze. As they began to lay hoses from the hydrants and begin fighting the fire from the exterior the rioters began to cut the supply lines from the hydrants and attack the firefighters and police. The police were able to form a line and drive the rioters back so the firefighters could put out the blaze.
Gangs roving the streets began to break windows in the Inner Harbor and other business areas to begin looting. More vehicles were set on fire throughout the City. About 8:45 PM a major fire broke out in east Baltimore, at Chester and Federal Streets, in a large senior housing center project that was under construction. When units arrived several multi-story buildings were fully involved with fire threatening adjacent homes in the block. Three alarms were struck out to bring the blaze under control. Embers were flying through the neighborhood starting a few other fires in the surrounding blocks. Units remained on the scene until about 3:00AM. Another major fire struck in west Baltimore. Around 4:00 AM Engine 14 responded to a fire in a 3-story row of businesses in the 2100 block W. Pratt. Street. Three alarms and several special calls were required to extinguish that blaze and prevent it from spreading to a large 5-story warehouse behind the stores.
While this was going on units were all over Baltimore chasing fires that were being set by the rioters. Within the 24 hour period into Tuesday night the Fire Department responded to 159 fires. There were 15 building fires and 144 vehicles. EMS responded to about 300 calls. About 250 businesses were looted or burned to some extent. More than 20 police officers were injured and they made about 235 arrests. There were only a few minor injuries to firefighters. Some of the Fire Departments apparatus as well as some mutual aid companies suffered damage to their vehicles, mostly broken windshields, and some fire damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that firefighters had to contend with the warlike conditions, fires, and rioters through the whole 24 hour shift, when firefighters returned back to Engine 13 and the Steadman Station they found that their cars had been vandalized by rioters.
By Monday night about 1500 state troopers had been deployed to the City. On Tuesday afternoon hundreds of additional police from jurisdictions across the state as well as from other states were called in and assembled at the M&T Bank Stadium lots to be briefed and deployed throughout the City. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan had declared a state of emergency and immediately sent in about 500 National Guard troops. Another 1500 were expected in by the evening. The last time that troops occupied Baltimore was during the 1968 riots. Businesses and schools along with the train stations were shut down on Tuesday throughout the City. And the Orioles baseball game was also cancelled that night. By Wednesday night a curfew was ordered in the City. No one was to be on the streets from 10PM until 5AM. The National Guard was out in force on the streets to enforce the curfew. There were many arrests on the first night for curfew violations.
Later on in the week things seemed to be getting back to normal. Schools reopened on Wednesday. Businesses were reopening and assessing damages to their properties. Citizens and Church groups were taking to the streets and cleaning up the mess caused by the rioters. There were some peaceful marches taking place protesting the violence that had taken place in the past few days. The curfew was lifted on May 3rd and the National Guard was beginning to pack up and go home.
The mutual aid response into the City was incredible. Units were from as far away as Washington County and the Eastern Shore. For several days units filled in the City stations and were placed on running assignments on incidents all over the city. There were 21 units from Anne Arundel County, 16 from Baltimore, 9 from Howard, 14 from Prince Georges, and 2 from Harford. Medic units were supplemented with 2 from Queen Anne’s County, 1 from Dorchester, 1 from Talbot, 3 from Charles and 7 from Washington. There were also 3 engines, a rescue and a Battalion Chief from Washington D. C. A lot of the units were staged at the Oldtown Station while others were running out of various other firehouses in the city.
On a brighter note, in the days following the riots citizens from all over the city expressed their great fullness to the firefighters by bringing dinners, food, fruits and snacks to the fire houses. School children also made thank you cards and presented them to the firefighters at their stations.