Officials investigate city fire

Baltimore City fire officials are investigating the cause of a four-alarm fire that ripped through a commercial building on Charles Street early yesterday.

Firefighters were called to the four-story brick building, at the northwest corner of Charles Street and North Avenue shortly after 3 a.m., officials said. When they arrived, flames were shooting "through the roof," said Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright.

Nearly 100 firefighters were called to the scene, Cartwright said. It took 2 1/2 hours to contain the fire, he said. No one was injured.

The building - which was empty at the time of the fire - had recently been undergoing renovations, Cartwright said.

Four-alarm fires are rare in the city, Cartwright said.

"We don't have multiple-alarm fires that often," Cartwright said. "Maybe two or three times a year."