Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2015 Fires and Incidents»4-Alarms 4211 Grace Ct. 6-12-15

Around 1730 hours on June 12, 2015 Engine 57 was out on the street heading to the store to get the nights dinner. As they headed north on Curtis Avenue they spotted heavy smoke in the area of Olmstead Street and Grace Court. As they neared the scene heavy fire was coming from 4211 Grace Court. They asked for the fire box to be struck out and began to go to work on the fire.
The house on fire was in a row of 2-story frame rowhouses connected by a common cockloft. As the fire intensified the radiant heat ignited the houses across the narrow alleyway that separated the two groups of houses. When Battalion Chief 6 arrived he made it a working fire and asked for a second alarm as now the houses were burning on both sides of the alley. The fire had gotten inside of the houses across the street and into the common cockloft and was now traveling down the block on both sides. The fire was spreading quickly and occupants in several of the involved houses managed to escape on their own without any injuries.
This was the first heat wave of the summer and the temperatures were nearing 100 degrees for the third day in a row. A third alarm was pulled at 1743 hours for additional manpower to relieve the initial crews battling the blaze in the high heat and humidity. At 1757 a fourth alarm was requested bringing more crews for relief.
The bulk of the fire was knocked down within 35 minutes. Crews continued to enter additional houses to pull ceilings and walls checking for further spread and extinguish hidden hot spots. About 10 homes were involved and damaged displacing 5 families. This was the second major fire in this area of Curtis Bay in the past year. In March, 2014, a father and his two children died in a house fire in the next block up from this fire.
One firefighter was reported injured with minor injuries and a few others were treated on the scene for heat exhaustion. Fire Investigation along with Police Arson was on the scene to determine the cause.