Home»BALTIMORE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT»INCIDENTS»2010 Fires and Incidents»2-Alarm 2309 Homewood Ave. 12-14-10

On December 14, 2010 around 4:45 AM Baltimore City Fire Communications received a report of a porch fire at 2309 Homewood Avenue. Engine 33 and Truck 5 were dispatched to investigate. When they arrived they found a 2-story brick rowhouse with heavy fire blowing from the first and second floor windows with extension to the exposures on both sides. In the mean time more phone calls were received reporting people trapped in the original fire building. Engine 33 requested the rest of the box assignment and quickly asked for a second alarm. It was very cold with heavy winds blowing the fire. A metal awning attached to the front of the porch front houses was burning and collapsing as firefighters tried to make their way into the first floor. As they attempted to make their way into the front they were driven back by the heavy fire and forced to begin exterior operations,
After battling the flames fanned by the heavy winds for about 30 minutes they made their way into the dwelling and up to the second floor. It was there in the front bedroom where they found the six victims all deceased.
Fire Investigation was called to the scene as well as Police Arson investigators.
The six victims were from three generations of one family. A grandfather and grandmother, their 26 year old daughter, and her three children ages 9, 6, and 1 year old.
As the morning sun came up the extent of the fire damage could be seen. The front porches were heavily charred as well as the bay window extensions on the second floor facades of the homes. Firefighters from the night shift were relieved by the oncoming shift and the day shift crews remained on the scene into the midday overhauling debris and searching for the cause of the fire. The Medical Examiners Office was dispatched and one-by-one the six bodies were removed and carried out by firefighters to the waiting vans.
After the fire, Red Cross workers assisted family members and other neighbors displaced by the fire at the Parrish house of St. Ann Catholic Church, a few blocks away.
On Wednesday, December 23 a large funeral service was conducted at the Empowerment Temple in northwest Baltimore for the six family members. Hundreds of mourners packed the services for the family that so many neighbors and family knew and loved.
A rash of fires has plagued Baltimore in the last few weeks as cold weather has set in. Another dwelling fire on Saturday the 18th, a few blocks away in the same neighborhood, has claimed another single life that has brought the fire death toll in Baltimore to 19 for the year.