'They didn't check': Family of man found dead 10 hours after Baltimore warehouse fire wants answers

BALTIMORE - The family of a man whose body was found 10 hours after a warehouse fire in Southwest Baltimore is asking for answers.

The body of 46-year-old James Craig Jr. was found on the stairs in the 2500 block of West Lexington around 11:50 a.m. on Sunday morning, police said.

Arson Investigators are also investigating the fire.

The building caught fire around 1 a.m. on Sunday, but Craig's brother found the body hours later when he went to visit the shop because Craig wasn't answering his phone.

The brother, who didn't want to be identified, told WJZ he didn't search long Sunday morning before he found Craig dead at the top of the stairs. 

Now, the family is asking Baltimore City officials why firefighters didn't find Craig.

"I don't know how dark it was, but if they would have peaked up there, they'd have seen his body," the brother said. "I would like to know what prevented them from going in there."

Craig's father, James Craig Sr., said that if firefighters would have found him at the time of the fire, he could still be alive.

"My son was upstairs," Craig Sr. said. "He could've been unconscious at the time. They could have resuscitated him, you know what I mean? And, he'd be alive right now."  

As crews clean up the aftermath of the fire, the family is left questioning the firefighters' response.

"We just need answers. I just want to know what happened," the brother said.

According to 911 dispatch calls, everyone in the building was told to evacuate.

"All Units, cracks in the Alpha wall are expanding. Evacuate the building," the 911 call revealed.

Fire officials said they initially fought the fire on the inside but moved outside after noticing structural damage.

The fire was put out around 1 a.m., and Craig's body was found by family, and not by first responders.

"This building was under lease," said Craig Sr. "This wasn't a vacant property right here."

 The building sits along the railroad tracks in the Shipley Hill neighborhood.

Several dogs were rescued from outside.

But, WJZ is trying to learn more, like why the building was not searched before firefighters left.

"I feel like they didn't do their job that night," a neighbor said. "They didn't do the walkthrough. They didn't do what they were supposed to do."

The fire comes on the heels of Baltimore City's fire chief, Niles Ford, resigning Friday after a report detailed what went wrong in a January fire that killed three firefighters.

Among the issues addressed in the report were the department's policies on emergency operations in vacant buildings.

The building on West Lexington was not vacant, but fire officials told WJZ this weekend they believed it was, at first.

"They didn't check," a neighbor said. "Because if they did, they would have discovered the body that night and not the family."

We are still awaiting an answer from city fire officials on the department's search policy and what went wrong this weekend.

They said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, and are awaiting word from the medical examiner on the cause of death.