Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2016 Fires and Incidents»3-Alarms 700 E. Monument St. 6-15-16

On June 15, 2016 Baltimore firefighters spent most of their 24 hour shift battling a stubborn blaze in a 55,000 square foot warehouse right behind the Oldtown Fire Station. The call came in around 1030 hours reporting smoke coming from a large warehouse located in the 700 block of East Monument Street. The 2-story warehouse was occupied by a company that sells and repairs household appliances and was packed from floor to ceiling throughout with general merchandise, parts, and junk.
Battalion Chief 2 arrived and took command and decided against sending men through the building due to unsafe conditions. The fire was fought from the exterior at this point. Shortly thereafter a working fire was declared. Around 1100 hours the Collapse Unit and SRO team were dispatched to breach the outside walls to locate the fire inside. Several holes were cut in the walls in different areas and portable monitor pipes were deployed to pour water inside. Heavy smoke continued to pour from the building and the second and third alarms were struck out at 1141 and 1213 hours. Units continued to pour water inside from several sides of the building.
Units had breached a wall on the south side of the building and were operating a monitor pipe and around 1500 hours the fire had finally broke through the roof above them. That fire was quickly knocked down by hand lines and Engine 2’s monitor pipe. Ladder pipes were then set up on that side pouring more water into that area from above.
The fire was finally placed under control around 2000 hours. Units were finally able to get inside to locate and extinguish hot spots. Companies were on the scene well into the early morning hours mopping up and clearing out debris.
About 120 firefighters with 50 pieces of apparatus were on the scene. No injuries were reported. Fire Investigation along with the Police Arson and Bomb Unit was on the scene to investigate the cause. A building inspector was also on the scene and condemned the building due to poor structural integrity in several areas. The company had been recently shut down by the Fire Prevention Bureau due to unsafe practices and storage problems within the building.