Blaze

More than 100 fire personnel and 30 fire vehicles were on the scene of a three-alarm fire Sunday afternoon at DiDi's Pizza on Holabird Avenue in Dundalk, fire officials said. When firefighters arrived at the scene about 12:20 p.m., they encountered such a large fire that they called for a second and then a third alarm, officials said. No one was injured in the blaze, whose cause was under investigation, fire officials said. The fire was declared under control about an hour later, officials said.

A four-alarm blaze that began late Saturday night significantly damaged a seven-story vacant building on the west side of downtown and took firefighters more than five hours to put under control, fire officials said. A firefighter suffered a minor injury during the fire in the 300 block of N. Howard St., said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the city fire department. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Cartwright said. The fire was declared under control at 5:18 a.m. Sunday.

UPPER MARLBORO — Authorities say a house fire that injured seven Prince George's County firefighters in Riverdale was arson. One firefighter remains hospitalized, in critical but stable condition, after Friday's fire. Kevin O'Toole is expected to stay in the hospital for weeks. Officials said at a news conference Wednesday that the fire was started in the basement of the home.

Baltimore firefighters were working to control a massive fire downtown on The Block, the city's main hub of strip clubs near City Hall. Thick, black smoke could be seen rising over the city as firetrucks raced down Interstate 83. Initial reports indicated that the fire was based at 404 E. Baltimore St., the location of the Gayety Show World.

Pub Date: 4/20/97

Baltimore County Fire Department crews knocked down three of the four walls of the old Seagram's Building in Dundalk after a two-alarm fire Friday. The building was part of the National Distillers Products, commonly known as Seagram's, distillery buildings at 7100 Sollers Point Road. The five-story building that caught fire was vacant and no one was inside at the time the blaze began, according to a statement from Elise Armacost, spokeswoman with the Fire Department. No injuries were reported.

Robert Hall could only think of saving his grandmother's friends and neighbors when he tried to race past the flames and smoke that were quickly consuming their Hampden rowhouse Monday morning. He was able to get Betty Lou Shipe, 82, out of the house by flinging open the front door, which she was struggling to unlock, but she died Tuesday of injuries suffered in the blaze. "I had to run into the fire," Hall said. "I grabbed her and ran back out. " Shipe died at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday at Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, according to Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright.

Five people were injured after a two-alarm fire broke out inside a West Baltimore building, and firefighters had to evacuate during the heavy snow Wednesday night, a department a spokesman said. Firefighters were called to the unit block of S. Augusta Ave., near Old Frederick Road, about 7:30 p.m., as traffic all over the Baltimore area came to a standstill. Battalion Chief Kevin Cartwright, a department spokesman, said a three-story rowhouse caught fire, and five people were injured as they attempted to escape the flames.

Two firefighters were injured while working to extinguish a blaze in a vacant home in Better Waverly, a city fire spokesman said. The firefighters responded to the 3000 block of Independence Street at about 8:30 a.m. Monday morning, said Chief Kevin Cartwright. Their injuries were not life-threatening, he said. One was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center and the other to the Public Service Infirmary at Mercy Medical Center, Cartwright said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Anne Arundel County firefighters responded to a blaze at an Einstein Bros. Bagels Sunday morning, which they say gutted the Severna Park shop. Lt. Keith Hamilton, of the Anne Arundel County fire department, said firefighters responded to the business, located at 500 block of Ritchie Highway, at around 12:10 a.m., where they found heavy smoke and fire coming from the roof. Firefighters were able to bring the one-alarm blaze under control in about an hour, Hamilton said. He said that the structure of the freestanding shop was still intact, but the interior was destroyed.