A fast-moving fire spread through the historic Domino Sugar refinery along Baltimore’s south waterfront Tuesday afternoon. Fire boats fought the flames from the harbor along with fire crews on land. It burned for hours even after the fire was brought under control.
The Baltimore City Fire Department responded to the 99-year-old sugar refinery around 3 p.m. and found heavy fire and smoke showing through the roof. Firefighters found flames coming from a silo that collapsed. The silo is a dome-like metal structure known as a “sugar shack”, according to Domino, used to store raw sugar. Baltimore Fire says fire made its way onto a conveyor belt and traveled midway through the building.
The fire department raised the call to three alarms due to heavy smoke and flames, calling its firefighters out of the building due to the intensity to battle the fire from the exterior. Two fire boats helped tackle the fire with additional water supply.
Neighbors in the Locust Point neighborhood, close to the industrial site, tell Bay Bulletin the fire spread very quickly.
All of Domino’s employees were able to escape the fire and none was injured. Firefighters remained on the scene at least five hours after the initial call.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
–Meg Walburn Viviano
