Water Damage Restoration in Baltimore, MD

BALTIMORE —

Firefighters have contained what was a massive fire that ignited Thursday at a north Baltimore wood recycling facility that the fire chief said will likely continue to smolder over days.

WHAT WE KNOW» Massive fire burned for hours overnight, continues to smolder» No injuries reported» Winds weaken slightly, but wind chill in the teens» JFX fully reopens (Coldspring Lane exit closed); Light Rail shut down

Crews continued to pour water on the fire scene from all sides Friday afternoon.

"Progress continues today, and we know that they've done a great, great, great job containing this fire," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said.

What happened

Speaking early Friday afternoon, Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace said large pile of logs were on fire and flames rapidly spread due to strong winds. Wallace said the cold temperatures, icy conditions and winds continued to cause issues Friday.

"They continue to apply a lot of water in there just to keep the embers down," Wallace said. "I believe this will likely continue to smolder for a couple of days."

Some 100 firefighters were called around 5:15 p.m. Thursday to fight the massive fire at Baltimore City Parks and Recreation wood recycling facility called Camp Small. No injuries were reported.

"We also are very happy that we don't have a major injuries to any of our personnel who are out here fighting the fire," Scott said.

Mutual aid helped from as far away as Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties, as well as emergency management officials, to backfill stations and fight several other fires across the city.

"We had numerous other fires last night in the city, dwelling fires, so a lot of the counties have sent resources in to backfill our stations (and) actually engaged fires in the city as well," Wallace said. "So, we are just incredibly grateful."

Raw video below shows massive fire

"Through the night, we've continued fire-suppression activities, but what we've done in addition, overnight and we continue to do today, is we now have heavy equipment (brought) in – front-end loaders, excavators, bulldozers – to not only secure a ring around the fire ... but also begin to condense the pile (and) continue to reduce the fire spread threat," Wallace said early Friday afternoon.

Wallace said investigators will not be able to get down to the fire scene to determine a cause until it is safe to do so.

"The challenge was there was a lot of fire right along the road when they got in there. So, with one means of ingress and egress, we had to start working our way in. We couldn't get behind it and come out," Wallace explained. "If we'd had a collapse, we'd have people cut off. So, it was a huge challenge."

Mayor, chief: Firefighters saved critical infrastructure

The fire prompted the closure of the Jones Falls Expressway, which is right next to the fire scene. The highway was shut down overnight between Northern Parkway and Druid Park Lake Drive and reopened during the rush hour Friday morning.

Timelapse Traffic video: Impact of JFX closure amid fire takes toll on traffic

City officials pointed to the fire suppression efforts for preventing damage to surrounding infrastructure.

"I think one of the most important things that you can hear from anyone today is that even with that raging fire that you all saw behind us last night, critical infrastructure seems to have no damage," Scott said. "That is a huge thing for all of us."

"Critical infrastructure seems to have no damage. That is a huge thing for all of us."

"I am happy to say that we believe at this point we don't have damage to critical infrastructure around the area," Wallace said, citing the structural integrity of the Coldspring Lane bridge, the nearby vinegar distillery and Baltimore Gas and Electric substation, as well as the Light Rail system and its catenary lines.

Video below: Chief provides update on massive fire

The fire also prompted the closure of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Western High School, which are adjacent to the fire scene, right across from the JFX.

Due to air quality concerns, City Schools closed Medfield Heights Elementary school at noon Friday and Baltimore City Rec and Parks closed the Medfield Recreation Center, the mayor said.

Woodberry residents impacted

While fire officials considered evacuations, they were not ordered. 11 News spoke with three Loyola College students who said they were supposed to be studying for finals, but the fire became a big distraction.

"That was crazy," said Loyola student Sophia Launay-Fallasse, who watched the fire with her roommates from her balcony in The Woodberry apartment complex on West Cold Spring Lane. "I've never seen a fire that big before. The flames were going up so high in the air, just spreading on both sides. And you could see the wood collapsing on itself. Pretty surreal to watch."

Launay-Fallasse said they first realized there was a fire when her roommates got back to the apartment and said they smelled smoke.

Video below: Loyola University Maryland students impacted by fire

"Then, we looked out the window and saw a small fire, and just watched it get bigger and bigger throughout the night," Launay-Fallasse said.

She said the smell was not overpowering because the wind blew it in a different direction. The apartment complex's entrance from the street remained closed Friday as fire trucks and hoses lined the road. Anyone trying to get to or leave the apartment had to drive along the Gwynns Falls Trail path -- usually used for walking, jogging and riding a bike.

"Some people were stranded -- we had two roommates stuck on campus and they had to spend the night on campus with our friends. They did not evacuate, but I knew they would if they needed to," said Madeline Williams, who witnessed the fire.

Students told 11 News they did wonder about their own safety and if they would have to leave during the fire.

"I was for a while. I called my parents as soon as it happened," Williams said.

There was no call for evacuations, but the distractions still remained.

"I kept walking away to go to work on homework -- it's finals -- and I kept looking out the window. I couldn't believe it, couldn't stop watching," witness Abby Nash said.

SkyTeam 11 video below: Aftermath of the fire

Massive wind-fueled fire at Camp Small in north Baltimore shuts down I-83, Light Rail overnight

How winds are impacting massive fire in Baltimore

What is Camp Small wood-recycling lumber yard?

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Update: Fire crews have the massive blaze in Woodberry contained Friday morning and some roads have been reopened.

Tall stacks of lumber collected from around the city acted as fuel for a wind-driven fire unlike any the Baltimore fire chief had ever seen Thursday night in the city’s Woodberry neighborhood.

The large fire was centered at Camp Small, where the city recycles felled trees into lumber products, near where southbound Interstate 83 exits onto W. Cold Spring Lane.

Traffic on I-83 was shut down in both directions from the Northern Parkway exit to Druid Park Lake Drive on Thursday night as at least 100 firefighters and others responded to the emergency. Cold Spring Lane also remained closed and service on nearby light rail tracks was suspended.

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Speaking just after 11 p.m., Mayor Brandon Scott said there were no evacuation orders anticipated, though officials would continue to monitor the situation. He said commuters should expect heavy traffic on Friday morning as crews continued to fight the fire. “83 is closed in the city, period,” he stressed.

Fire Chief James W. Wallace said the fire was not under control as of 11:15 p.m., but that crews were making progress.

Dec 5, 2024

“We’ve gained an upper hand on this,” Wallace said from a roadway briefing area, with bright orange flames visible in the background.

Wallace said the fire department had two dedicated strike teams prepared to respond to any spot fires that were started by embers or fire brands as strong winds continued overnight.

The chief called the blaze “challenging” and “dynamic,” and said he’d never seen a fire of this scope. Crews would be working overnight to contain and put out the fire, which could be seen from miles away on a clear winter night.

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“The challenges here are obviously the weather and safety,” Wallace said. “We’re trying to keep this under control in nighttime hours, so we have a lot of added risk as we try to engage this. But no, I’ve not encountered this type of fire at this size before.”

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Another complicating factor was the size of the lumber and log stacks, Wallace said. In some parts of Camp Small, the wood was stacked 30 feet high. The fire is deep into piles that could collapse, he said.

That’s especially problematic because Camp Small only has one tiny road in and out of it, meaning a collapsed, burning pile could trap fire crews in, or outside of, the area.

Wallace said the fire department has heavy vehicles waiting to get into the camp and dig a ring around the fire to better contain it, when it is safe for crews to do so.

No injuries had been reported as of 11:15 p.m., officials said. Emergency responders from Anne Arundel, Harford and Baltimore counties and staff from the Maryland Department of Emergency Management were all on scene assisting Thursday night, Scott and Wallace said.

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Fire officials said the blaze was reported as a brush fire on 1900 Brand Ave., though officials are not sure what sparked it initially. The fire was first called in around 5:13 p.m. by a city employee, Marsh said.

“When they got here, they discovered a rapidly evolving fire that was in a large pile of trees and logs,” Wallace said. “This has been a challenge because it’s been a wind-driven fire. It’s been very difficult for us to get out ahead of it.”

The Baltimore light rail track runs between Camp Small and I-83, the Jones Falls Expressway.

Wallace said the light rail tracks had not been compromised, but that the fire was near them.

A video shared with The Banner, taken from The Woodberry Apartment complex at 2001 W. Cold Spring Lane, shows tall flames and smoke pouring into the sky as fire trucks respond on the ground and at least one helicopter is visible in the sky above the blaze.

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A few residents went to see the fire close up. One said he could feel the heat from the fire just standing in the highway.

“We were driving home when we saw smoke and, as we got further, we saw there’s this huge, gigantic fire,” another resident said. “We came to see what’s going on.”

The Maryland Transit Administration suspended light rail service between Falls Road and North Avenue as a precaution. Shuttle bus service is available between these stations, the agency said.

Camp Small is not in a heavily residential area. It is just north of the Fleischmann’s Vinegar location and southeast of the Cylburn Arboretum. It is across the highway and the Jones Falls Expressway from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Western High School. Those schools will be closed Friday, according to the school system.

Largely out of sight, Camp Small has for decades been the city’s dumping ground for waste wood collected from downed street trees.

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Its roughly five acres of kindling are vulnerable to a fire. Logs are stacked 30 feet high and line the length of a narrow driveway that is the only access to a small workshop. Large piles of wood chips and cut firewood also cover portions of the plot.

Camp Small is more than a scrap yard, however. In 2016, the site became part of Baltimore’s zero-waste initiative. A small crew began repurposing scrap wood, usually oak and ash, into usable products including wood chips, firewood and eventually lumber.

The operation has been nationally recognized for its sustainability efforts. Products from Camp Small can be found across the city. Mulch from the site softens the ground under city playgrounds and benches adorn city parks. Lumber milled at the site decorates the walls at the city’s Cahill Recreation Center. Camp Small also supplies products to a number of Baltimore artisans and furniture makers, including Sandtown Millworks.

The fire and high winds also prompted officials to cancel the fireworks show at the city’s annual Monument lighting.

“We have three particularly bad fires going on in Baltimore City right now that are being spread by the high winds,” Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry told the crowd at the celebration in Mount Vernon. “And because those fires require a lot of attention, we are not going to be able to set off the fireworks here tonight.”

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Wallace said there had also been a fire in the 600 block of W. Lexington St., and that he believed crews had responded to a third blaze.

Banner reporters Emily Opilo and Justin Fenton contributed to this report.

MARYLAND — Twenty-three nursing homes in Maryland are among the nation’s best, according to a new ranking released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report that sheds light on a nationwide nursing home staffing shortage.

The 2025 Best Nursing Homes report ranks facilities that offer short- or long-term care or assisted living services. Fewer than 20 percent of the nursing homes evaluated made the ranking, U.S. News said in a news release.

In Maryland, 218 nursing homes were evaluated and 23 appeared on the 2025 “best” list for top overall ratings in care.

U.S. News said 1,637 U.S. cities (out of 5,147) and 715 U.S. counties (out of 1,687) have at least one nursing home on the list.

“These facilities set the standard for quality care and should be commended for their commitment to improving the lives of their residents,” Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News, said in a news release.

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Overall, the evaluation found that more than half of U.S. nursing homes don’t comply with federal regulations requiring at least eight registered nurse staffing hours every day. Among those that did not comply, the average nursing home had 15 days of inadequate staffing, according to the report.

“Staffing levels continue to be a major challenge for U.S. nursing homes,” Harder said.

The short-term rehabilitation facilities that were ranked have an average of 50 percent more nursing care per resident than facilities ranked below average in short-term rehab. The top long-term facilities have double the staff retention rate of nursing homes when compared to underperforming nursing homes, Harder said.

Among other findings:

Metro areas with the most nursing homes on the “best” list (in alphabetical order) are Boston, Chicago, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco-Oakland and Washington, D.C.

To calculate the Best Nursing Homes ratings, U.S. News evaluated each nursing home’s performance using a variety of quality measures obtained from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service. Among factors considered are resident care, safety, outcomes and other aspects of quality — including data on nurse staffing levels, consistency and retention, as well as use of antipsychotic drugs and success in preventing ER visits.

Rodney Mack, a cherished member of the Baltimore, MD community, passed away on October 25, 2024, just days after celebrating his 63rd birthday on October 21. A dedicated family man, Rodney leaves behind his loving wife of 38 years and three daughters. Known for his passion for the Ravens, Rodney’s legacy resonates with his family and friends, who recall his warmth and unwavering support for those he loved.

A fundraiser organized by Maullea Branch seeks support for Rodney’s viewing and burial. Although Rodney had a life insurance policy, a clause required it to be active for three years to cover expenses, but he only had it for a year and a half, leaving his family in need. As of now, the fundraiser has reached $260, with a target of $10,000, thanks to generous donations from individuals such as Brooklynn Brooks-Grey, Ivy Jackson, and an anonymous donor. The family has also shared an option to send contributions through Cash App at $RodneysRavens for those who prefer this method.

Rodney’s family is grateful for the outpouring of love and support from friends and community members. The family appreciates every contribution, however small, as they work to honor his memory with a proper farewell.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Rodney Mack’s family during this challenging time. May they find peace and strength as they remember the love and joy he brought into their lives.

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Note:This post was written and edited by William Clark, based on their expertise and research. It is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. We welcome your feedback and questions on this content. Please feel free to contact us.