Two Baltimore firefighters hurt as Hampden rowhome fire spreads
Two Baltimore firefighters were taken to hospitals after a Hampden rowhome fire spread to two neighboring houses on West 37th Street.
Two Baltimore City firefighters were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries after a Hampden rowhome fire spread to two neighboring houses. The fire started in the 800 block of West 37th Street shortly after 5 p.m. on July 11, after smoke was seen coming from a two-story rowhome in the middle of the block.
As crews worked the scene, the blaze moved into two adjacent homes and forced a second alarm for additional resources. In all, three homes were affected. One of them was confirmed to be unoccupied.
The Baltimore City Fire Department said the cause remained under investigation. Even with the injuries described as minor, the call showed how quickly a fire can move in one of Baltimore’s tight rowhouse blocks, where attached homes share walls and sit close enough for flames and heat to spread fast from one address to the next.
That risk is part of the city’s built environment. Baltimore City code includes a specific title for rowhouse and multi-family residential districts, reflecting how common and tightly packed that housing form is across the city. Hampden fits that pattern. Live Baltimore describes the neighborhood as a stretch of rowhomes and townhomes centered around The Avenue, a commercial strip that sits beside blocks of older attached housing.
For nearby residents, the impact of a fire like Saturday’s does not stop when the flames go out. Temporary displacement, smoke exposure and inspection or utility problems can linger after crews clear the block, especially when multiple attached homes are affected.
Hampden has already seen how severe rowhouse fires can become. A fire on Keswick Road in October 2024 killed two people and damaged 10 rowhomes. Another fire on the same street in May 2025 damaged three rowhomes and drew more than 60 firefighters.
Saturday’s fire was smaller than those incidents, but it carried the same basic danger: in a neighborhood built on attached homes, one fire can quickly become a multi-house emergency, and the firefighters sent in to stop it are the ones most exposed when the spread begins.
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