Yesterday morning, an underground fire in downtown Baltimore caused a major power outage, affecting local businesses, city services, and the operations of two major courthouses. The Baltimore City Fire Department reported a fire in a manhole at the corner of Charles and Pleasant Streets, causing power to be shut down to address the safety hazard.
The shutdown impacted the Harry E. Cummings Building at 401 E. Fayette Street and the Elijah E. Cummings Courthouse, prompting an announcement on the social media platform X that they would be closed "until further notice," according to FOX45. Additionally, there has been an interruption in city payment services, with the Accounts Payable department unable to process checks or EFTs and the Municipal Post Office shutting down for the day.
Businesses in the vicinity felt the immediate repercussions of the outage. Casey Jenkins, the owner of Darker Than Blue Grill on North Charles Street, expressed concern over the recurring infrastructure issues in the area in a statement reported by WBALTV. "I think we need to start consolidating and making sure that we're holding people accountable for these because it's happening entirely too often now. We've got to work on the infrastructure," Jenkins said, alluding to the financial strain caused by lost revenue due to such events.
Service interruptions extended to several street closures and affected the University of Maryland: Midtown Hospital, which had to rely on generator power. Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), the local utility company, notified that approximately 2,200 customers were initially without power. In an update reported by WBALTV, BGE stated, "BGE crews continue to perform the necessary repairs to restore customers who remain without power and anticipates the balance of customers will be restored in stages overnight and into Monday morning." They also acknowledged that customers might experience additional temporary service interruptions as they were working on repairs.
The fire, which was extinguished by 8:30 a.m., resulted in at least one firefighter being injured and subsequently taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, FOX45 reported. The firefighter has since been discharged. As city departments and local businesses grapple with the fallout from the manhole fire, further updates are expected as repairs continue.
