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Modified 11-Mar-24
Created 23-Dec-20
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Around 8:30AM on Wednesday, December 23, 2020 an explosion rocked downtown Baltimore. It was heard and felt all around the area and 911 calls started pouring into Fire Communications reporting locations throughout downtown. Communications narrowed it down and High-Rise Box 23-1 was dispatched for the Baltimore Gas and Electric building located at Fayette and Liberty Streets in the heart of downtown.
When companies arrived they reported a multi-story high rise office building with no fire or smoke showing. However injured people were coming out of the building reporting an explosion and fire on the top floors. On the outside of the building there were two suspended scaffolds, one on each end of the building hanging precariously from their cables still attached to the roof supports. The one on the north end of the building was hanging vertically at the roof line. The one at the south end was hanging at a 45 degree angle with two window washers still attached to their safety lines on the scaffold at around the tenth floor level.
The first arriving unit immediately requested a high angle rescue assignment. When Truck 1 arrived they were ordered to set up on the walkway under the crippled scaffold. They raised their ariel ladder only to find that it was about two stories short of the trapped workers. The crew of Rescue 1 ascended to the top floors of the building to assess the situation and locate the workers that were on the scaffold. They reported heavy damage to the 16th floor and a partial collapse of the roof. There was also a smoldering debris pile on the floor. Several injured people were also found including one severely injured worker on the rooftop. Several medic units were dispatched and it was unknown how many more victims were injured or missing.
The scaffold supports on the roof were compromised in the blast and it was uncertain how secure the dangling scaffolds were. The rescue would have to be made from inside the building and the first thing they had to do was secure the workers with life lines from the roof. The fire was also beginning to intensify and units began to ascend the stairs to start fighting the fire as the other crews were figuring out how to rescue the window washers. As they started to fight the fire there was no water pressure. It was discovered that the standpipe system was shut down while construction was going on within the building. A second alarm was struck out as well as a special call for all Squad companies and the Special Operations Team.
As all of this was transpiring the injured were either being taken out of the building or exiting on their own and being treated by medic crews outside and transported to nearby hospitals.
Rescue crews began to cut a window out on the 10th floor to access one of the trapped workers. They secured him with additional lines and brought him into safety. The second worker was at the top of the scaffold at the eleventh floor level. Rescuers took that window out and a firefighter went out on the scaffold to secure him and proceeded to bring him into safety too. It took about 45 minutes to rescue both men and they suffered only minor injuries. At around the same time the fire was brought under control.
The building suffered damage from the tenth to sixteenth floors. The heaviest damage was the sixteenth floor and roof including the facade above the roof. Half of the roof was blown apart and upward and landed on top of the building. Some interior partitions were moved as much as four feet.
A total of 11 EMS units responded to the scene and handled a total of 23 victims that were rescued. 21 patients were transported to area hospitals. Of those, 9 were listed as critical and 1 serious. Two declined transport. All of the victims were construction workers. The building was mostly empty of people due to the holiday season and the COVID pandemic or the casualties could have been worse.
The top floors housed the offices of the BGE Company and contained a lot of the buildings’ infrastructure. Maintenance work was being performed on the air handling systems and boilers. Preliminary reports state that this may have been the cause of the explosion. Investigators were on the scene most of the day along with building inspectors and structural engineers to determine the cause as well as the integrity of the building. Deputy State Fire Marshals and ATF Agents are also assisting with the investigation. The damaged scaffolds were secured to the building until a large crane could come to the scene and remove them from the building. That was completed the following day.
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