Firefighters contain massive wind-fueled blaze in Baltimore after 24-hour battle

BALTIMORE -- Firefighters have spent roughly 24 hours working to put out the massive fire at Camp Small that started Thursday night. Officials are now saying that the fire has been fully contained, and they were able to prevent damage to surrounding infrastructure.  

Neighbors in the Cold Spring area say they've never seen anything like this before.  

"When I got to the bottom of the hill, I saw the flames shooting up. I knew exactly where it was because last week I said, 'If that place ever catches on fire, it's going to go big'," a local resident said. 

The massive fire that shut down roadways, schools, and businesses Friday started around 5 on Thursday evening in a large storage area with trees and logs stacked about 30 feet high at Camp Small, a wood waste collection yard run by the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks. 

Jennifer Goold, Executive Director of Neighborhood Design Center, told WJZ that Camp Smalls "...brings all of the city's trees that have been culled either because they're dead or diseased from out city streetscapes, from Baltimore City parks, and repurposes them." 

100+ firefighters dispatched

According to the mayor's office, a department employee saw a small fire just after 5 p.m. and immediately called 911. A short time later, flames and smoke could be seen throughout North Baltimore. 

"I saw it last night getting home down 83 before they shut it down and you could smell it too, you could smell it burning, it smelled like a campfire," said Jake Shapiro, another nearby resident. 

More than 100 firefighters worked through the night, battling through the wind, cold, and finally bringing the fire to a standstill by Friday evening. 

"You saw some of the flames and mainly the smoke but once you heard from the mayor and the fire chief, I felt better, because they seemed like they had it handled, and they did," Shapiro added.  

Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace said there was no damage to critical infrastructure in the area and no one was injured. 

"It's been a very safe operation," Chief Wallace stated. 

According to the mayor's office, initial assessments suggest minimal property damage to Camp Small.