BALTIMORE — It's an emotional day for the Baltimore City Fire Department as the deadly South Stricker Street fire claimed the lives of three Baltimore city firefighters in the line of duty one year ago today.
January 24, 2022 is a day people in Baltimore will not soon forget. Firefighters gathered in solidarity at the site of the tragic fire for an informal service Tuesday morning, while staff at firehouses across the city will remember the solemn day.
Firefighters spent hours on scene of the fire at a vacant home at the corner of South Stricker and Pratt Streets. The home collapsed, taking the lives of Lieutenants Kelsey Sadler, Paul Butrim, and firefighter Kenny Lacayo along with it.
Several events will memorialize the three fallen firefighters.
Baltimore city firehouses will take a moment of silence at 11 o'clock Tuesday morning.
Also at those firehouses, firefighters will fly the Baltimore City Fire Department flag at half staff from sunrise to sunset.
At the site of the fatal fire, Mount Clare Community Council president Kintira Barbour did her part to make sure they are not forgotten.
Barbour created a memorial garden as a place for people to pay tribute to the three lives lost and honor their sacrifice.
“Seeing it for myself coming here is just a drastically different feeling even though we do know the experience of the tragedy. It’s definitely transformed into something different,” Barbour said.
Since the deadly fire, the city has made changes in policy and protocol along with using advances in technology to address the issue of vacant buildings, as well as how to respond if one should become engulfed in flames.
One of those efforts includes an artificial intelligence tool that is being tested and developed in Baltimore city to help fight fires safely.
The A.I. uses existing code enforcement data and aerial images to detect damaged rooftops in danger of collapsing.
Getting rid of potentially dangerous vacant homes and buildings is another step.
Governor Wes mMoore's fiscal year 2024 budget includes $20 million dollars for project core, money which would be used to eliminate vacant housing and create opportunities for redevelopment in Baltimore city.
The problem of dangerous vacant buildings starts with placing markers on those structures so firefighters can easily identify if a home is vacant and considered unsafe or not.
By last fall, Baltimore city officials already had identified more than 14,000 vacant buildings, with more than 700 properties considered unsafe. Hundreds more could make it onto that list.
At that time, Baltimore City Fire Department spokesperson Blair Adams said “this is an ongoing effort. It's not something that we will stop once we have what we perhaps presume to be unsafe vacant homes. We're constantly going to get information in our system from housing about vacant buildings.”
