Fire highlights danger of abandoned properties

Wednesday’s devastating fire in West Baltimore highlighted a danger that lurks in neighborhoods all over the city.

Almost 10 homes burned; no one was injured but some residents lost everything. Investigators believe the fire started in a vacant home.

For people who live near vacant, abandoned properties, the possibility of a fire is a constant threat.

‘When I heard that on the news last night, it shook me, because it could have been me,’ said Eleanor Anderson, who moved into a rooming house on East North Avenue about two months ago.

She's recovering from drug addiction and trying to find a job. In fact she says years ago when she was using drugs, she lived with several other people -- in an abandoned home. ‘It was tough. Scary. It was real scary but I just took it one day at a time you know what I mean. I just prayed, and God just kept me safe in there,’ she said.

Inside the home, there was drug use, and candles for light and heat; the risks for fire were numerous. They still are -- even though the threat now comes from boarded up homes down the block and across the street. ‘When these buildings get on fire it travels, and spreads onto these old houses because they're really old. I think about it every day,’ Anderson said.

Joe Evans owns his home on North Avenue, and a few others that he rents out.
His day-to-day concern is of the four-legged variety. ‘If we leave the door open at night, the rats come in. They race you in the door,’ Evans said.

But he knows the annoyance brought by filthy vacant homes is nothing -- compared with what happened in West Baltimore on Wednesday. ‘That's my worst fear. A fire,’ Evans said.

There are about 30,000 vacant properties in Baltimore City. 16,000 have structures on them; the city owns about 10,000 of those.

Some will wind up like the 70 homes on Perlman Place, near North Avenue, which were demolished earlier this year.

Joe Evans says he has a better idea. ‘Knocking them down is not the thing. Fix them up. Give people a place to live,’ he said.

City housing officials do look for ways to rehabilitate city-owned properties. They resort to demolition when the safety threat outweighs the benefits of rehabbing them.