Home»All Photographs»Fire Scenes & Incidents»Baltimore City, Md.»2017»1/14-15/2017 4th alarm vacant building fire, 300-blk. N Eutaw Street, Downtown

Shortly after 18:30-hours on Saturday evening January 14, Downtown Inner City companies were dispatched for a reported building fire at address 320 N. Eutaw Street in the Downtown's Lexington Market area. The first arriving companies on scene reported smoke showing from the 1st and 2nd floors of a 6-story vacant building, known as the Gomprecht and Benesch Building (built in 1901). About 15 minutes later a collapse occurred from the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor forcing firefighters to evacuate the building and fight the fire from the exterior only. A 2nd alarm immediately followed by a 3rd alarm were requested. About an hour later due to the shear size of the building and its tough access a 4th alarm was struck, eventually followed by a couple special calls. The fire had also extended to the next-door 5-story building and in the early morning hours the fire had escalated through the roof. It took a total of 22 hours for firefighters to bring the blaze under control. Fortunately no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.