There have been a record number of fire deaths and fatal fires in Baltimore this year, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun. It’s been five years since the city has endured more fatal fires in one year than the number that has occurred so far in 2017 and the fire deaths total will be one of the worst years on record.
Twenty eight people have died in Baltimore fires so far this year. The city began tracking fire deaths in 1938. Since that time, the lowest annual number on record occurred in 2011, when there were 17 fatalities. The highest number occurred in 1984 when 88 people died. Last year, the number of people who died from third-degree thermal burns and smoke inhalation from structure fires was 16.
The 28 fire fatalities this year include Alicia Evans and her two children 4-year-old Layla Mullen and 5-year-old Amani Mullen who died as a result of a December 13 house fire in a North Baltimore row home in the 700 block of E. Cold Spring Lane.
Other multiple-death fires included a January fire that killed six siblings and a fire at an assisted living facility.
Six Children Die in Baltimore House Fire
On January 12, a house fire in the 4200 block of Springwood Ave. claimed the lives of six children who were siblings. Three of their siblings and their mother survived thanks in part to the heroic efforts of one of the children, an eight-year-old girl, who helped to pull her mother and two of her brothers, ages 4 and 5, to safety.
Kozy Cottage Assisted Living Facility Fire
Four people died and two others were injured in March 3 fire at the Kozy Kottage assisted living facility located in the 2800 block of Lawina Road in the Windsor Hills neighborhood. Seven people were inside the facility when the fire broke out around 3:00 a.m. Two were pronounced dead shortly after firefighters arrived at the scene, one did not need medical care and four were transported to area hospitals where two of them later died.