4 injured in Baltimore steam pipe blast

Authorities, operator trying to determine cause of downtown explosion on Sunday evening

A steam pipe on West Pratt Street in downtown Baltimore exploded Sunday evening, injuring four workers after a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crew struck a pipe, officials said.

The steam line ruptured after BGE crews, who were working to install a gas line, “struck an unmarked pipe near Pratt and Eutaw streets, causing a water leak,” according to a Sunday evening statement from the electric provider, which said the steam system in the area is now off.

Baltimore Fire Department crews responded to the explosion on the 400 block of West Pratt Street at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Crews from the city’s Department of Public Works and Office of Emergency Management, as well as BGE, were already on scene due to a water main break downtown, according to the fire department.

The rupture caused “pieces of gravel and roadway to explode,” injuring the four people, three of whom were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, according to the public works department.

The public works department said water service interruptions have been reported at two downtown hotels and surrounding businesses. The explosion led to road closures and traffic detours at Pratt and Eutaw streets.

Vicinity Energy, the operator of the steam pipe system, said in a statement Sunday evening that the utility was “onsite and working closely with public officials to determine the cause of the steam release.”

“Our first priority remains public safety,” the Boston-based company said.

The steam system provides steam and hot

and chilled water to nearly 250 buildings in and around downtown Baltimore for use in heating and cooling. Customers include Mercy Hospital, the National Aquarium and the Walters Art Museum.

Steam pipes briefly caused an evacuation of the Power Plant Live! complex and other businesses downtown in 2021 due to a high-pressure steam leak. A steam pipe explosion on Eutaw Street in 2017, prior to a

Baltimore Orioles game, injured five people and shut down traffic for several hours.

JERRY JACKSON/BALTIMORE SUN A Baltimore Gas and Electric crew assesses damage at Pratt and Eutaw streets, just north of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, on Monday morning at the site of a steam line explosion that injured four people Sunday evening.