Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2017 Fires and Incidents»4-Alarms 1760 Union Ave. 2-16-17

On February 16, 2017 a massive fire once again struck the 3-story vacant building that once housed the Schenuit Rubber Company, a former tire company located at 1760 Union Avenue in the Woodberry section of Baltimore. The building was built in the 1860’s and started out as a cotton mill. It was sold to Frank G. Schenuit in 1912 and became the Schenuit Rubber Company which manufactured automotive, aviation, and industrial tires. In December, 1960 a 3-alarm fire struck the business and the company later filed for bankruptcy in 1962. Artisans occupied the building after that until the 1990’s when they all moved out leaving it sitting vacant and in disrepair since then. And finally in February of 2010 a 5-alarm fire further damaged it leaving it in the condition it is in now.
Shortly before 2100 hours Car 42, a police arson detective, was travelling on Interstate 83 when he noticed smoke and a large red glow coming from the vacant warehouse adjacent to the roadway. Upon closer inspection he saw fire inside the middle of the building on all three floors and notified Fire Communications to strike out the fire box for this building. Shortly thereafter Engine 21 arrived on the scene and reported heavy fire in the center of the building and through the roof. Battalion Chief 5 arrived, took command and requested the second alarm right away advising all responding units to set up ladder pipes for exterior operations. The second alarm units began dropping hose lines and setting up on the 41st Street Bridge, overlooking the massive building with ladder pipes. Police had to shut down that major neighborhood thoroughfare to traffic.
Hose lines were being laid from the nearby streets across the MTA light rail tracks alongside the building requiring that to be shut down as well. As companies began to pour water on the burning structure a third alarm was struck out at 2126 hours supplementing the water supply to the scene.
As the roof was collapsing in the center of the building no one was to enter the burning structure. A fourth alarm was sounded around 2200 hours and those responding units were ordered to the east side of the building which was on the southbound lanes of I-83. Police also closed down this section of the expressway so ladder pipes could be set up on this side.
Firefighters continued to battle the flames throughout the rest of the night and the fire was eventually placed under control around 4:00AM on Friday morning. Traffic in the area was tied up throughout the night and Police reopened the roads around 7:30. The Light Rail tracks were also reopened to resume their daily schedule.
No injuries were reported and Fire Investigation was once again looking for the cause of the fire. In the past few years homeless activity was responsible for several smaller fires in the complex.