By Dillon Mullan
Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — One person died in a rowhouse fire in East Baltimore on Monday evening.
A three-alarm fire started in the 300 block of South Newkirk Street in the Greektown neighborhood, the Baltimore City Fire Department said around 6 p.m.
“I looked down the block and saw fire shooting from the roof. It was not easy. They had a hard time getting it out,” Teresa Heatly, who lives in the 200 block of South Newkirk Street, said by the scene. “Just before the holidays that is so sad.”
The department said the fire was contained and extinguished around 7:30 p.m. Later on Monday night the smell of burned belongings filled the neighborhood as displaced families waited outside for their homes to be cleared for re-entry.
Yaretzy Roblero, a 15-year-old who lives a few houses away from the home where the fire started, said around 9:30 p.m. that her family was still waiting for emergency personnel to inspect the damage to their roof.
“I went to my room to go change, and I started smelling smoke. I ran downstairs and looked outside and saw everybody running from their houses. We were really scared it was going to spread to our house,” Roblero said while waiting in an alleyway behind her home with her parents. “They’re telling us our roof might collapse because of the water.”
Baltimore Police closed parts of Eastern Avenue to limit traffic through Greektown on Monday night. The fire was a pocket of rowhomes in Northern Greektown between Eastern Avenue and East Lombard Street, and Interstate 895.
Baltimore Fire did not identify the victim Monday night. Roblero and other neighbors described the resident of the home as a kind elderly woman who was often seen walking her dogs and giving away extra grocery store coupons to families.
“She was really nice you would see her walking around every day, and she would never bother anybody,” Roblero said.
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