BALTIMORE — More than 90 Baltimore City firefighters spent the morning putting out a massive fire affecting at least seven homes along Cedley Street in South Baltimore, Thursday morning.
While the cause of the fire is still in question, neighbors feel they already have that answer.
The massive fire scene lining the street wasn't what Jean Pindell expected to see starting her morning.
"I heard a boom and then I heard a lot of people talking, so I come out and the fire was just making its way up the street. It was bad," Pindell said.
Firefighters arrived on scene around 9 a.m., to find three vacant homes fully engulfed and four more homes were affected by smoke and water damage.
"It was like a big, huge fire connecting with my house, so now I have a little water damage and a whole bunch of smoke in there," said one neighbor.
Firefighters were aware the homes were a part of the city's Code X-Ray Program that discourages entry because they're deemed unsafe.
It was relaunched last month in response to the deadly South Stricker Street fire in January.
"The thing that worried me the most is I didn't want to see any firemen get hurt because most of them were empty and that's what we need to do, get rid of these empty houses," Pindell expressed.
Officials are investigating the cause of the fire, but neighbors say they already have their own ideas.
"We all know how they get started. There's too many homeless people we got out here on the street. That's what they need to be focused on," said Faith Nettles.
"You think this was a homeless person trying to stay warm," we asked Nettles.
"Yes," she responded. "It was. I can guarantee you more than likely it was a homeless person."
