BALTIMORE — The call went out for a fire in the 3900 block of Orleans Street, tucked just off of Pulaski Highway in the wee hours of the morning, stirring residents like Bernice Branford from their sleep.
“My son woke me up at 3:00 in the morning and said, ‘Mom!’ He heard a big boom, a big bang over there and then when I looked out the window, the bathroom window, that’s when I saw the fire,” said Branford.
Firefighters arriving on the scene found heavy fire and smoke coming from the buildings, and despite early indications that some of them may have housed local businesses, that does not appear to be the case.
Neighbors tell us that the buildings had become a virtual haven for squatters, but firefighters report finding no one inside.
“A lot of homeless people go in there. They boarded it up and they had the little red things on it, but somehow they still get in there,” Branford told us.
“Were you worried that some of them might be in danger?” we asked.
“Yes, because there was a white guy and a Spanish girl that I fed one time and they were staying over here, but they moved I guess in there, because you were always seeing the doors open and everything, and I was hoping that they weren’t in there,” she replied.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
