BALTIMORE — At a second hearing on Baltimore's underground fires in less than a year, there was lot of talk about safety concerns but once again not so much about solutions.
That was concerning to Rebecca McAfee, who’s dating a Baltimore city firefighter that responded to the latest manhole fire on June 28.
"When he's on those calls, I get anxious because it's not even safe for them to even be there," she said. "This needs to be expedited."
The city has outsourced the investigations into recent underground fires to RTI Consulting. The third party forensic engineering firm had already been investigating the numerous fires on Charles Street in 2024.
The fire near Baltimore and South streets has also been added to their review.
No cause has been determined in any of those fires.
WATCH: City outsources underground fire investigations to forensic engineering firm
RELATED: Can Baltimore's underground fires be stopped?
Deputy City Solicitor Stephen Salsbury reported to the city’s public safety committee that the RTI team had “boots on the ground” as of early July.
“They're going into the conduit system, they're looking at debris that has burned," he explained. "These are incredibly complicated and difficult investigations to do because of the damage that's been done to the infrastructure."
The findings and recommendations are not anticipated to be done until fall, though Salsbury was optimistic the city could have them as early as September.
According to chair Councilman Mark Conway, data shows there has been 34 fires in the last 10 years, with spikes in 2018 and 2024.
"God forbid one Baltimorean gets killed the next time this happens. We're lucky that there have been no casualties up until this point," McAfee said during public comment.
Tuesday's meeting also ended with no answers about who's really responsible in a crowded conduit system which includes the utility that controls Baltimore’s steam system Vicinity Energy, Verizon, Comcast and BGE.
Conway indicated only BGE’s systems could have caused a spark, but BGE director of electric operations Thomas Rafferty says the situation is more complicated than that.
“It might just be conditions of the old system, environmental conditions with all the utilities in a small space, it could just be a combination of everything. I don't know if you're going to find a smoking gun it's this person's fault,” he said.
RELATED: Downtown Baltimore businesses still impacted by September underground fire
The city and BGE split responsibilities related to the conduit, as part of a 2023 agreement that's unique to most major metros.
Baltimore City owns and maintains it, while BGE does capital investments.
So far, it’s replaced 250,000 feet of conduit and have updated more than a dozen manholes. They're also adding heat monitoring equipment on transformers as part of a $120 million upgrade plan over four years.
Rafferty says they've been using phenolic duct to upgrade, which can withstand temperatures of up to 500 degrees, rather than the old terracotta or newer PVC pipes.
BGE reports that none of the recent fires have happened in places where they've updated the system and they're partnering with the city to find unsafe areas.
They've also pointed out, there's nothing in the agreement that prevents the city from investing more money into the conduit.
"This sounds like a financial issue that needs to be addressed,"McAfee said. "No amount of money is worth someone's life."
