Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2008 Fires and Incidents»3-Alarm Church Hampden 801 W. 33rd St. 8-2-08

In the early morning hours of August 2nd, severe thunderstorms rolled through Baltimore bringing heavy rain and lightning to the area. Just after the storms let up, around 6:30AM, a fire was reported in the church steeple of the Mount Vernon United Methodist Church in Hampden.
Engine 21 was first to arrive on the scene and reported that fire was through the roof of the bell tower and steeple of the 130 year-old stone structure. Within minutes exterior operations were begun due to the possibility of the steeple collapsing. It was determined that the fire had gained hold of the underside of the building's roof and a second alarm was sounded at 6:48 Heavy smoke found its way out through the slate shingled roof and a short time later fire broke through the ends of both gables.
At 7:02 a third alarm was struck bringing four more engines and two more ladder trucks. Thirty homes were evacuated across the street from the steeple side of the church as a precaution in case the tower collapsed.
The fire was brought under control in about two hours. The loss was estimated at 5.5 million dollars and it is not known if the church will have to be torn down or if it can be rebuilt. Building inspectors were on the scene and determined that the steeple and bell tower had to be taken down.
About 100 firefighters were on the scene. Three firefighters were injured during the blaze, none of them serious.
It was surmised that lightning had struck either the roof of the steeple or a lightning rod and had caused the fire.