City fire officials investigate manhole fire, injuring one firefighter, prompting road closures in downtown Baltimore

BALTIMORE-- Fire officials are investigating a manhole fire on the North Charles Street, prompting road closures and sending one firefighter to the hospital with minor injuries Sunday morning.

Fire crews were dispatched to the 300 block of North Charles Street around 5 a.m. for reports of a manhole fire. According to the investigation, after arriving crews found multiple fires coming from manhole covers. The fire was contained by 8:30 a.m.

Power has been turned off in the area. Fire official John Marsh shared in a press conference that the timeline of when power will be turned back on is not clear.

Three business and about 2,100 paying customers have been in impacted by the outage.

Crews from B.G.E. , the Baltimore City Office of Emergency Management and Baltimore City's Department of Transportation, are also on scene and urge the public avoid the area.

The department shared the 300 block of North Charles Street and the 300 block of St. Paul Street will be shut down for an extended period of time. 

The following streets are shut down:

• North Charles Street from Lexington Street to Mulberry Street
• Saratoga Street from St Paul Street to Sharp Street