Hampden blaze ‘just spread down the row’
Wind complicated battling the fire that damaged several rowhouses
“Years and years of memories are gone. This house was our foundation.”
A two-alarm fire heavily damaged as many as eight rowhouses in Hampden Tuesday.
About 72 first responders with the Baltimore Fire Department arrived at the blaze in the 3900 block of Roland Ave. just before noon, said department spokeswoman Blair Skinner. By 3 p.m., the fire was contained.
The fire started in the area just below the roof in one of the rowhouses and spread down the block. There were no injuries, Skinner said.
“Because of the intensity of the fire and the heavy wind conditions, it just spread down the row,” she said.
The investigation into the cause is continuing, Skinner said.
Roughly an hour after the first call, heavy smoke and fire were visible from the roofs of about a dozen homes. Most residents evacuated on their own, though firefighters had to rescue some people and pets.
AmyMillerandherthreesiblings grewup on this block, in the rowhouse with octagonal windows at the center of the line of burning homes.
Four of her family membersstill live there, including her 71-year-old mother, whohadto beevacuated in her wheelchair withthehelp of firefighters. Miller rushed to the scene from Dundalk as soon as she heard about it on the news.
“Years and years of memories are gone,” she said. “This house was our foundation.”
Still, she said, she feels lucky her family members and their puppy made it out of the home without injuries.
“We can get another house,” said Miller, 31. “I can’t get another mom.”
Oscar Decombel, 69, is visiting from Brussels, Belgium, and house sitting for his son-in-law, whose home caught on fire. He stood with his wife and a group of other neighborhood residents behind police caution tape, across the street from his son-inlaw’s burning home.
He watched as powerful hoses sent water across the smoking roof and into open windows, blasting pieces of the structure into the air. He and his wife had evacuated more than an hour earlier and had begun thinking about wherethey’ll spendthenight.
Decombel comes to visit from Brussels a couple of times a year, often helping his son-in-law fix up the house. He recently replaced the carpet with hardwood floors.
“That will be ruined,” he said. “We’ll have to start all over again.”
Councilwoman Mary Pat Clark stopped by Tuesday evening to survey the damage and meet with residents. Red notices were affixed to several front doors declaring the structures “Condemned.”
“We have a lot of work to do,” Clark said. But at least, she noted, everyone got out safely. “Even the pets.”
Amy Miller, former resident of block