Five-alarm fire in vacant Baltimore warehouse. Video from Clipper Mill Industrial Park.
WBAL Radio video from the 41st Street Bridge late into the fire.
Click here for WJZ-TV video (updated)
WBAL-TV coverage (updated)
Listen live to Baltimore City Fire Department
As of 10:25 PM Baltimore City Fire Department units were still battling a fire in a large vacant warehouse in the 1700 block of Union Avenue. Master streams were shut down and some limited interior operations were being done in an office area to reach some of the fire.
The call came in at 6:30 this morning. The location is adjacent to the light rail tracks on the west side of the Jones Falls Expressway in the Clipper Mill Industrial Park area (Between Woodberry and Hampden). This industrial park is where Firefighter Eric Schaefer was killed during a wall collapse at a building fire on September 16, 1995.
That location is just down the street from TV Hill where a number of the city’s television station’s are located. WJZ-TV reports one of its photographers was on the scene before the fire department (watch for that video later today). Here are excerpts from the station’s website:
Over 100 firefighters are on location battling the five-alarm blaze. There are also 45 fire suppression, EMS, command and support units on the scene.
“We have employed exterior operations, being that we have ladder pipes in place. We’re extinguishing the fire from outside the building, not sending our members in for them to become victims themselves,” said Kevin Cartwright. “We’re making headway on extinguishing this fire.
According to residents in the area, the building has been mostly vacant for 12 years, although there are some offices inside. Residents say there have been several small fires in the building in the past year.
Police have shut down several roads in the area. Two lanes of the JFX south of Coldspring are shut down. The light rail station at Union Avenue is closed. The 41st Street bridge and several side streets near Union Avenue are also shut down. Delays are likely if you travel in this area; drivers are advised to avoid the area if possible, but if you have to drive in the neighborhood, be prepared to use alternate routes.
No injuries have been reported.
