Cause of underground fires being probed by city

Baltimore officials have convened leaders from multiple utility companies to probe the cause of repeated fires beneath the city’s downtown streets, including one that badly damaged a city business and disrupted the power for thousands of residents Sunday.

Mayor Brandon Scott said during a news conference Monday that he does not believe there is an ongoing safety concern for residents and businesses following the underground blaze, which was the third the city has experienced in the area this year. Scott emphasized the age of the city’s infrastructure, however, and said he couldn’t promise that there will be no additional fires.

“We’re going to do everything that we can do to keep our residents and businesses safe,” he said. “As we get everyone together to look into what’s happening on the ground, we can have a better perspective on what may need to happen and what may need to change.”

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. crews worked Monday morning to restore power to customers in the area of the fire, which began at East Pleasant and North Charles streets. City firefighters were first called to the area around 5 a.m. Sunday and observed smoke coming from numerous maintenance holes and one emitting flames, officials said. The fire was extinguished around 9 a.m.

The underground blaze badly damaged one business on the street and left numerous others shuttered. Viva Books at 326 N. Charles St. was the only business boarded on the block Monday, marked by a red notice warning the property was “condemned.” One day earlier, singed books and debris littered the sidewalk in front of the shop. A gaping hole could be seen in the middle of the store charred from flames and exposing the space beneath it.

On Monday, a group of three utility workers examined a box of burned electrical equipment across the street from Mick O’Shea’s Irish Pub, which, along with its neighbors, was marked with an orange cease-and-desist notice from the city fire marshal’s office. The notices ordered businesses at Brown’s Arcade, which spans from 322 to 328 N. Charles St., to halt operations due to “unsafe conditions,” including a lack of “primary or emergency power.”

Kristin Speaker, executive director of Charles Street Development Corporation, said most of the businesses in the area have had power restored, except for those in the 300 block of North Charles Street. Mick O’Sheas and Indian eatery Lumbini both had to dispose of food due to spoilage, she said. Business owners have been in touch with their insurance companies. An online fundraiser has been established for the owner of Viva Books, Speaker said.

“The community is rallying behind Viva Books,” she said. “There’s a lot of businesses offering their help.”

Speaker urged city residents to help by patronizing businesses in the area. A lack of internet service has disrupted delivery service, but most have been able to reopen for customers in person, she said.

“Just because the street might be closed for cars, you can still go there,” she said. “We need customers eating and getting services.”

Scott said officials do not yet know whether the fires are related to construction work that has been going on in the same area of North Charles Street this year. Department of Transportation officials did not respond to a request for information about companies with permits to work in the area. Speaker said city contractors recently completed a water pipe replacement in the area but utility work has been ongoing.

Asked if the city might have cause to pursue legal action, Scott said there was “no indication of this being anything other than an unfortunate incident.”

Officials with BGE said the underground fire affected the city’s conduit system, a network of about 700 miles of utility line underneath Baltimore. The underground cable system was the subject of a controversial agreement between BGE and city officials last year that required the utility to spend $120 million on capital improvements through 2029 and pay Baltimore an “occupancy fee” of $1.5 million annually.

“Many sections” of the century-old conduit system are “in disrepair due to its age,” according to a BGE spokesperson, who said damage can often be caused by water infiltration and other failures of electrical equipment. As with past fires in the area, municipal services were disrupted Monday. Baltimore Circuit Court was closed as was the city’s Councilman Harry S. Cummings Building, which had no power. The underground fire impacted fiber lines that provide internet service to the Enoch Pratt Free Library, which said on the social media platform X that its Central Library downtown would be closed on Monday as it assessed the damage to those lines.

About 2,200 customers were without power Sunday around noon, BGE said at the time, and numerous traffic lights downtown were disabled. BGE said Sunday night that it had restored power to the “vast majority” of customers who had lost service. BGE de-energized part of its electric system after firefighters discovered scorched electrical wires and other burnt infrastructure under destroyed maintenance holes. On Monday, BGE crews and contractors lined the 300 block of North Charles Street, which remained closed to traffic throughout the day. Some workers pumped water from a maintenance hole at East Saratoga and North Charles streets as others ate breakfast near a pair of BGE “Mobile Command Center” trucks. Josh Fannon, head of the fire union representing the city’s fire officers, said Baltimore, which relies on decades-old infrastructure, has long suffered from underground fires. The challenge of battling the blazes is that water can be a conductor of electricity, he said. BGE’s emergency response crews must turn off the flow of electricity before firefighters can begin battling an underground fire with water, he said.

“Not everywhere has got as much underground power running as we do,” he said. “It’s an urban hazard we have to deal with.”

This year, North Charles Street has borne the brunt of underground fires in Baltimore. In January, an explosion outside Rod Dee Thai restaurant in the 300 block of North Charles Street left 1,700 customers without power and led to road closures similar to those experienced Sunday. BGE confirmed that the incident was caused by an electrical fire. In June, crews responded to the area again for a high-voltage fire in the 200 block of North Charles Street. Similarly, power needed to be shut down in the area by BGE, and crews worked to address the underground electrical infrastructure. A building was evacuated, and that fire did not result in any injuries.

Resident Paul Sturm, who lives in a high-rise building in the 200 block of North Charles Street, said he awoke Sunday morning around 4 a.m. to the sound of an explosion. A resident of the area for more than a decade, Sturm said he immediately assumed it was a manhole cover blowing due to a fire. He recalled a similar incident years earlier. Sturm’s building never lost power Sunday, but his church, more than three blocks north of the fire, was in the dark as he attended.

Sturm, who heads the Downtown Residents Advocacy Network, said it was fortunate that the manhole cover blew early in the morning when there were no pedestrians on the street to be injured. Asked whether he was concerned about more fires, however, Sturm said other concerns outranked the blazes. “What I’m much more concerned about is the safety of downtown residents and other pedestrians walking through and crossing downtown streets,” he said.

Baltimore Sun reporter Alex Mann contributed to this article. Got a news tip? Contact Emily Opilo at [e-mail], 443-253-0681 and on X as @emilyopilo. Contact Dan Belson at [e-mail], 443-790-4827 and on X as @DanBelson_.