Five Families Displaced In Highlandtown Fire

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The snow left behind made for tense times in the city Monday night.

Firetrucks couldn't get down the side street to pull up close to the blaze in Highlandtown.

Mike Schuh spoke with one of the witnesses across the street.

This country road has the same problem the one in the city did. The snow is too Deep and now too compacted for even a huge fire truck.

This scenario, along with hydrants buried and missing are the kinds of things that cause rescuers to worry.

Baltimore County says if by tonight your street is untouched, give them a call. The city can't say when it's efforts will be complete.

WJZ viewer Angela Hernandez uses her cell phone to show us homes across the street in her southeast Baltimore neighborhood.

The fire expanded to five adjacent homes in Highlandtown.

Firefighters here found 3 to 5 feet of snow blocking the street.

They couldn't drive their trucks up to the fire.

So neighbors quickly pitched in and dragged the fire hoses over the snow.

Mark Parker was one of them.

"Kind of quickly tried to figure out where the closest hydrants were and then they recruited a bunch of neighbors to help move the hoses and pill the hoses halfway down the block," Parker said.

Everyone, including a baby, got out safely.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

"Thank God for neighbors," said Hernandez. "As if it weren't for them they wouldn't have been able to get the fire out in time."

Thousands of other side streets remain unplowed.

"This is as far as you can go,' said one resident. "You cannot go further than here."

neighbors in Reservoir Hill tried to dig out some of their street by hand, but stopped.

In Northeast Baltimore, a similar attempt.

"The truck couldn't get up there, so that's why our street aint get cleared," Glenn Baker said.

Folks are just done with it.

"We're in an area of kind of unchartered water," said Baltimore DOT Director William Johnson. "We've had a record snowfall. Baltimore has never seen this much snow in a single event."

Boston is loaning Baltimore two snowblowers.

They found it's the only way to move the snow somewhere else — in this case, Ravens stadium.