Baltimore fire crews evacuate Johnston Square Apartments after gas leak scare

Baltimore City Fire Department crews evacuated Johnston Square Apartments at 501 East Preston Street after a second-alarm response to a possible ruptured gas line or electrical fire outside the seven-story building sent basement carbon monoxide readings as high as 1,100 parts per million. The elevated CO in the basement drove the evacuation effort and turned an outside fire scare into a buildingwide safety response.

Johnston Square Apartments is listed at 501 E. Preston St. and described as a Baltimore apartment community for residents 62 and older and for disabled residents. Another listing says the former manufacturing facility was completely renovated in 2008, placing the complex among the city’s larger residential buildings in the Johnston Square area.

The initial alarm pointed to either a ruptured gas line or an electrical fire outside the building, two hazards that can quickly spread concern through a multi-story apartment complex. In this case, the basement carbon monoxide reading mattered as much as the visible fire threat because it signaled unsafe air inside the structure, not just trouble at the curb.

For Baltimore apartment buildings with shared basements, gas service and electrical systems, the Johnston Square response shows how fast a localized problem can become a whole-building evacuation. The combination of a possible gas line issue, an electrical fire and 1,100 ppm carbon monoxide put a senior and disabled housing complex into immediate emergency status, where speed mattered more than the fire’s exact origin.