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Modified 25-Feb-23
Created 23-Nov-22
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On Tuesday, November 22, 2022 calls started coming in to Fire Communications around 1410 hours reporting a horrendous explosion in the area of Bayard Street and Washington Blvd. in the Pigtown neighborhood of southwest Baltimore.
When units arrived they were greeted with heavy fire in a 2-story brick end of group dwelling and debris scattered throughout the whole block area. A 70 year old man was on the sidewalk trapped under bricks, lumber and debris in front of the demolished house. Two others were still trapped inside.
Battalion Chief 6 arrived and called for a working fire followed by a second alarm minutes later. An apparent gas leak triggered an explosion which literally blew the house apart flipping the roof on to the house next door and setting everything on fire. Another small fire was discovered in the basement of a building across the street. Firefighters contained the main body of fire as it continued to burn until the gas company could respond and shut down the underground lines feeding it.
The injured man was a neighbor and was passing by after the initial blast and heard screaming from inside the building. He was trying to get inside to help them when the front wall collapsed on him. He was freed by firefighters and medics and transported to Shock Trauma in critical condition with severe burns over his body and several broken bones. Two females, aged 16 and 48 were rescued from the building and taken to the Bayview Burn Center, where both were also listed in critical condition. Two dogs in the home were also injured in the blast.
BGE was dispatched to the scene and had to dig up the street to shut the gas off to several homes. In October BGE had been working in the neighborhood and had finished upgrading gas lines to all the residences in the area. BGE will be working along with the Fire Department to determine the exact cause of the explosion. It was several hours before everything was deemed safe and residents were allowed to go back into their homes.
One home was completely demolished and three other homes were seriously damaged by the blast. Three families had to be relocated from their damaged houses.
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