Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2017 Fires and Incidents»2-Alarms + S/C's 1026 E. Patapsco Ave. 9-25-17

Photos by Guest Photographer: Kevin "Hungrybus" Ryer

On Monday, September 25, 2017 Sixth Battalion units were dispatched at 0536 hours to a dwelling fire at 4601 Pennington Avenue in the Curtis Bay section of south Baltimore. It turned out to be an exterior fire with minor extension to the house. Companies were on the scene for less than an hour. Most of the units were packing up and clearing the scene. Around 0630 Engine 2 had cleared and was heading home when they spotted a large column of smoke ahead of them. As they circled around the area to locate the source they came upon a 200’ X 200’ warehouse in the 1000 block of East Patapsco Avenue that was fully involved in fire.
Captain Andrew Whitehead, detailed to Engine 2, asked for the full fire box assignment, and a few minutes later a second alarm. Companies arrived and immediately began setting up for exterior operations with ladder pipes and monitor pipes. Access was limited to the building and long relays had to be set up to supply water to the scene.
The 94,000 square feet warehouse complex was occupied by Whitehouse and Schapiro LLC. , a company that deals in recycling clothing, shoes, textile products, such as sheets and fabrics that are imported and exported around the world.
In the next hour several special calls were dispatched making it the equivalent of five alarms. Anne Arundel County responded about a half dozen units through mutual aid. The smoke from the massive fire could be seen from all over the surrounding Baltimore area. At the height of the blaze there were about 125 firefighters with 40 pieces of equipment on the scene. By noon most of the visible fire was knocked down and the Fire Investigation Bureau had requested assistance from the State Fire Marshal as well as the ATF National Response Team. They would take over the scene and remained on the scene for the duration until their investigation was completed.
By late evening smoke was still rising from the building. Most of the roof had collapsed in several areas and bales of clothing and materials were still smoldering underneath.
Companies remained on the scene throughout the next week. Different companies were rotated through about every six hours continuing to wet down hot spots and assist the ATF with accessing and moving debris. On September 29th the ATF requested a large crane and contracting crew to remove collapsed debris and sections of the building to get into some inaccessible parts of the building. The last companies finally left the scene around noon on October 4th.
The fire resulted in a total loss of the warehouse space, which was about 90% of the structure, with smoke and water damage to the office space. No injuries were reported.