Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2018 Fires and Incidents»2-Alarms 1100 N. Eden St. 3-4-18

On Sunday March 4, 2018 church members were attending Sunday School services in the basement of the Grace Memorial Baptist Church located at 1100 North Eden Street in the Madison Square section of central Baltimore. About 25 people were present when they started smelling smoke and began investigating. When they reached the first floor they saw smoke and flames and fled the building and called 9-1-1.
At 1019 hours Box Alarm 6-21 was dispatched to the church and units arrived to find smoke coming from the eaves of the 90 year old 3-story stone church. Smoke and fire was also visible inside on the first floor. Firefighters began an interior attack but as the fire progressed Command observed heavy smoke and flames coming through the roof and upper eaves and ordered an evacuation to start exterior operations. A working fire assignment was requested at 1036 hours and units began setting up ladder pipes around the church. The heavy volume of fire gained headway and started consuming the heavy timber rafters and roof structure before the ladder pipes could start flowing water. Command then ordered a second alarm at 1042 and the fight was on! Heavy fire was now coming through the whole upper roof and front windows as well as the bell tower.
A special call was dispatched around 1100 bringing three more engine companies and a truck to supply more water and ladder pipes to the scene. Firefighters battled the blaze for another two hours before bringing it under control. There was significant damage to the roof as well as smoke and water damage throughout the rest of the building. Fire Investigation was on the scene to determine the cause. Everyone escaped safely and no injuries were reported.