Baltimore DOT facility had broken alarms, sprinklers and unsafe conditions

A Baltimore City Department of Transportation building that houses signs and markings, special events, and facility maintenance workers was operating without working sprinklers or a fire alarm system, even as employees kept reporting to shifts inside the facility.

The Baltimore City Office of the Inspector General said its investigation began after a complaint about unsafe work conditions and that investigators saw a fire watch sign during a Feb. 17, 2026 site visit. The building had been under a Level II fire watch since October 2024, after an inspection by the Office of the Fire Marshal, according to the public synopsis for case #26-0022-I issued June 4. The synopsis said workers told investigators the building had been in that condition for years.

The hazards were not limited to fire protection. The facility also had a garage door stuck open, exposing workers to cold conditions, and falling insulation inside the building. The workers affected include laborers, carpenters and other maintenance employees who repair and replace street signs and mark streets and crosswalks across Baltimore, work that depends on a functioning city shop and safe indoor workspace.

A fire-inspection record cited in local reporting added more detail to the breakdown. It said the sprinkler system had last been serviced in 2019, the alarm panel was not operating, and an expired fire extinguisher had last been checked in 2018 and was three years overdue at the July 2025 inspection. The OIG synopsis also said the facility had no working sprinklers or alarm system and that the fire-watch arrangement required hourly walkthroughs and daily reports to the Baltimore City Fire Department.

The case lands in the middle of broader city scrutiny over fire-watch oversight. A 2021 city audit defined fire watch as a temporary measure for continuous, systematic surveillance to spot hazards, raise alarms and notify the fire department. A later audit found the Baltimore City Fire Department did not formalize fire-watch procedures until Oct. 14, 2024, and later adopted use-and-occupancy and annual fire-inspection procedures on Nov. 18, 2024.

In a March 30 response, DOT said it had moved to address the problems, obtained services to make repairs, and issued a purchase order. The department said repairs were expected to begin within a week and take about 120 days. DOT also said 53 new fire extinguishers were installed in 2025, the next annual inspection was set for September 2026, and staff would be trained on extinguisher use. The agency said it had reviewed walkthrough logs and was now doing them hourly, and that tripping hazards, loose propane and pressure-tank storage, and the wood-shop area had been addressed.