Stretched thin, Baltimore Fire Department calls in backup

Stretched thin by a night of rioting and destruction Monday night, Baltimore City fire officials called in several neighboring jurisdictions to help put out more than 150 reported fires, local officials said.

Fire officials in several neighboring counties confirmed that they had sent both equipment and personnel into Baltimore to assist in the violent aftermath of 25-year-old Freddie Gray's funeral.​​

Fire Chief Russ Davies of neighboring Anne Arundel County, south of Baltimore, said more than 50 county firefighters, paramedics and rescue squad team members spent the night working in the city.

Most of the units were released by 7 a.m. on Tuesday, he said, but he and others expected at least a few units to be called back on Tuesday night.

The office of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said firefighters responded to 144 vehicle fires and 15 structures fires Monday night. Police arrested nearly 200 people. The city is under a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew and all public schools were closed Tuesday. The Baltimore Orioles canceled their Tuesday night game.

Anne Arundel routinely gives assistance to city firefighters — and it also gets assistance from the city, he said. What was unusual about Monday night was the scale of assistance needed: Davies sent 11 engine companies, two ladder trucks and a heavy rescue squad. Nearby Baltimore County police and fire departments also said they were assisting in the city, but didn't immediately provide details.

Marc Fischer of Howard County Fire & Rescue, west of the city, said they deployed a ladder truck, an ambulance and three fire engines, as well as a battalion chief, overnight. One of the engines returned to the suburban Elkridge, Md., station with body damage and a broken windshield after attackers threw "bricks and cinderblocks and things" at the vehicle en route to a fire, he said.

"It really shows you the degree to which it was dangerous last night, but we are committed to helping the city," Fischer said.

Davies said one of his fire engines, from the West Annapolis station, also came back with windshield damage — as did a battalion chief's vehicle. "They didn't have any problems when they were on the scene of fires," he said, "but in transit, that's when they had problems."