Arson Investigation Underway After Fire Rips Through Baltimore Home

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—An arson investigation is underway after a home goes up in flames Tuesday morning in Baltimore.

Ella Smith and her fiance were fast asleep when someone started banging on her front door. Smith said she thought she was going to die.

It happened around 6:00 a.m. in the 400 block of E. Biddle Street.

Upon arrival to the scene, heavy fire was showing from the three story rowhome where two people were trapped on the second floor.

According to Baltimore City Fire Department spokesperson Samuel Johnson, units were able to isolate the fire to the first floor of the originating building before it spread to any adjacent homes.

"The two individuals who were rescued from the location did not sustain any injuries, and there were no other reports of citizen injuries at the scene," said Johnson.

"They were on top of their jobs," said Smith. "They came in broke the door down, they weren't doing no talking they were doing their jobs."

While the cause of the fire remains under investigation, authorities have ruled it as an arson.

Smith tells WJZ she and her fiance were firebombed.

Fire officials don't believe that's the case.

"While the incident is ruled as an arson, the home was not firebombed," Johnson says.

Smith says her kids are usually inside the home, but Monday night they were staying with friends.

The family is displaced as a result of the fire.

Smith says she owns the home outright, but because there are vacant on either side of the home they can't obtain homeowners insurance.

Anyone with any information is asked to call police.

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