Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2014 Fires and Incidents»4-Alarms 1006 St. Georges Rd. 1-23-14

During the height of the recent cold snap in the Baltimore area, a spectacular fire occurred in a mansion valued at more than a million dollars. A recent snowfall had left about 5” of snow on the ground and temperatures were hovering in the teens. Around 3:50PM on January 23rd a fire was reported in a home at 1006 Saint Georges Road, in the upscale neighborhood of Roland Park. Engine 44 and Truck 25 arrived first and encountered a large 134 year-old wood frame mansion with heavy fire showing in the first floor and heavy smoke billowing out from the top.
As the rest of the companies began to arrive the outcome would not look good from the onset! Many obstacles would have to be overcome. The road into the neighborhood was a dead-end, with one lane at best, being snow packed on top and many cars parked, scattered along the route. The large 2 ½ story mansion sat in the middle of a 2 ¼ acre lot, so all of the ladders, hoses, and equipment had to be hand-carried and dragged to the building through the snow. A couple of the first alarm engines found frozen hydrants on their arrival so some long hose lays and relays had to be established. The road provided very limited access for apparatus placement and once a few of them were in place, blocked the scene. The men from later arriving units, after parking, had to walk ¼ to ½ mile carrying their equipment to get to the house. And then there was also a large in-ground swimming pool close to the house on side D that firefighters had to navigate around and be careful not to fall in.
When Battalion Chief 5 finally arrived on the scene he made it a working fire. Companies attempted an interior attack but due to the size of the house and large volume of fire, withdrew and began setting up from the exterior. A second alarm was then struck out at 4:08. Additional units came in and established secondary water supplies and dragged more hand lines and portable monitor pipes to the house. Firefighters surrounded the house as the fire was spreading throughout the structure. About an hour into the fire there was a collapse of the wall and roof on side D. As firefighters continued to pour water on the fire Command requested a third alarm shortly after the collapse.
The fire wasn’t brought under control until about 8:15PM. Broken gas lines kept feeding the fire until BGE crews located and dug up the ground around the house to find and shut the gas lines that supplied the house.
Initially both residents of the house were alerted by smoke detectors sounding and evacuated the house and called the Fire Department.
Crews remained on the scene well into the next day dousing hot spots and Fire and Police investigators combed through the debris to determine a cause.