Firefighters, city leaders tag unsafe vacant homes in SW Baltimore community

BALTIMORE- Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and other city leaders walked alongside Baltimore City firefighters to tag vacant homes deemed unsafe in the Mount Clare Community in Southwest Baltimore.

The "Unsafe Vacant Marking" initiative is part of the citywide partnership effort to notify and protect first responders and others about the stability and safety before entering the building.

"Vacant properties present a danger to our entire community. My administration has committed to addressing this issue with the utmost urgency. We refuse to leave anything on the table and are working to improve all operations, procedures, and processes connected to how the City government deals with vacant houses," Mayor Scott said. "Identifying and marking unsafe vacants will ensure the safety of our residents, first responders, and agency personnel so that we can prevent the unspeakable tragedy that occurred last January from ever repeating itself."  

The Baltimore's Economic and Community Development Committee is weighing a bill on vacant structures. The legislation specifically deals with 311 complaint fines, meaning a law could go into place establishing a fee structure for repeated and justified requests to vacant properties.

The goal is to incentivize vacant property owners to address multiple complaints about their aging properties.  

Scott said on Twitter that marking the buildings is "a crucial step in identifying and marking unsafe vacant structures" across the city.

Back in January, three firefighters died in a vacant house fire on S. Stricker Street.

Four firefighters were trapped, and three of them—Lt. Paul Butrim, firefighter/paramedic Kelsey Sadler and EMT/firefighter Kenny Lacayo—died from the fire.

The fire was deemed an arson.

With more than 800 signs in stock, the reflective signs will soon be visible throughout Baltimore City. 

Baltimore City Fire Chief Niles Ford says that when identifying an unsafe vacant property, firefighters will consider the stability of a structure & the roof, previous fire damage, and visible signs of a collapse.  

Of the approximately 218,000 total properties in the City of Baltimore, 14,600 are vacant and abandoned, and more than 92 percent of those are privately owned. Derelict vacant properties negatively affect our communities, and many have become a haven for drug use, shelter for the homeless or "squatters", and serve as a prime location for crime and illegal activity.

Every Wednesday beginning October 26, firefighters will hit the pavement for two hours to document unsafe vacant homes. So far, more than 500 unsafe properties have been identified.

"The manner in which our fallen firefighters lost their lives has severely affected the members of this department - and quite frankly - the entire community," Fire Chief Ford said. "The coordinated efforts to protect first responders, building engineers and others is ‌vital as we consistently work to improve our safety standards and identify new opportunities to protect the City of Baltimore. Chief Ford added, 'we will have boots on the ground-with the goal of aggressively tagging and documenting unsafe vacant properties in Baltimore City.'