Families Displaced After Fire Rips Through Baltimore Homes
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Nearly a dozen rowhomes in north Baltimore have been destroyed after a raging fire tore through them Tuesday.
Flames and thick smoke could be seen and smelled for blocks as more than 70 firefighters were dispatched to the scene in the 3900 block of Roland Ave. in Hampden just before noon.
Chopper 13 had a bird's eye view of the vicious two-alarm fire that destroyed nearly a dozen homes on the block.
Radio transmissions obtained by WJZ told of not only the concern for homeowners who may be inside, but for the first responders themselves.
"All units on the roof evacuate the roof!" a dispatcher said.
There were no reported injuries.
Baltimore fire officials say the fire appears to have started in the area just below the roof of one the homes.
"Because of the intensity of the fire and the heavy wind conditions, it just spread down the row," Baltimore Fire spokesperson Blair Skinner said.
Some homeowners have already been by to pick up their belongings or what's left of them. Many of them were in shock over what they found.
"I'm just, I'm just processing this," Doug George.
George says he has lived in two of the damaged homes over the years. Now, like many homeowners, he is stuck picking up the pieces.
[Reporter: What's the damage level look like inside?]
"It's pretty bad," he said.
Friends of other homeowners are just as devastated over the destruction.
"It's overwhelming," one woman told WJZ's George Solis.
Councilwoman Mary Pat Clark also stopped by to survey the damage.
"We just have to make sure that we take care of everybody," she said.
The Red Cross is assisting the families impacted by the fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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