Jul 16, 2008 5:45 pm US/Eastern
911 Tapes Released From Woodlawn Explosion
WOODLAWN, Md. (WJZ) ―
911 tapes have been released just days after an explosive four-alarm fire in a Baltimore County warehouse. Now, emergency calls are being made public.
Derek Valcourt reports the people calling in are clearly confused and panicked.
Caller: "Whitestone. It's a fire here."
Dispatcher: "OK, can you tell what's on fire?"
Caller: "It's a warehouse. Come. I mean it's engulfed."
Dispatcher 17: "Baltimore County 911"
Caller: "Y'all got a big fire. It's something burning down bad."
One of the first few calls came from the alarm company monitoring the Concrete Protection and Restoration building in Woodlawn.
2 Dispatcher: "Where is it coming from?"
Caller: "This is audible. The original alarm was the rear warehouse overhead door, but since then we've gotten numerous other perimeter doors as well as interior motions."
The warehouse sits not far from Martin's West. Flames caused nearby propane tanks to explode, scaring neighbors who called for help.
18 Caller: "We see fire in the air, looks, oh my goodness. And sounds like explosions. We don't know where it's coming from, but we can see it in the trees."
16 Caller: "Something just blew up around the corner. I don't know what it is, just blew up. Big sound. Boom."
14 Caller: "I got all the neighbors in the neighborhood running towards me now. Every last neighbor is running down the street right now."
21 Caller: "Hi. Something is on fire, I don't know what's blowing up, but I can see the smoke billowing up."
25 Caller: "It sounds like the gas station is blowing up. It's a lot of loud booms over and over and over again. It's been like 10 of them and the skies lighting up. So I need to know are we safe here."
Dispatcher: "OK, we do have a three-alarm fire on Whitestone Road. We do have multiple officers and multiple fire units there. They will let us know if you guys need to evacuate."
Caller: "They will come to the neighborhood and let us know."
Dispatcher: "Right, they will definitely let you know."
Firefighters say they are sure that this was an accidental fire, but they're still investigating how it started. The fire caused an estimated $2 million in damages.
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