BALTIMORE — More than a week has gone by since an underground fire broke out in the heart of downtown Baltimore and continues to cause headaches for commuters.
Neeye Beye began working for the mayor's summer youth program on Monday in a building around the corner from the main construction at East Baltimore.
"It was a lot of smoke and it was just too much going on and it's kind of impacting our work because there's no wi-fi," Beye said.
Other than the knowledge that steam was a factor, and continues to complicate the progress of replacing cables according to Baltimore's DOT, the cause still remains unknown.
In a statement, the department reiterated that it is "premature to speculate on the origins" of the fire that happened on June 28 and the city is actively investigating the cause as well as the Charles street underground fires from 2024, "to better understand how to mitigate or avoid altogether future fires."
In the meantime, work is progressing within the conduit system. Crews are on site repairing damaged cables and approximately 600 feet of duct has been replaced thus far.
But it was last fall, District 4 city councilman Mark Conway stressed the urgency of understanding the cause of the fires, with at least one underground fire on Charles street causing several manhole explosions.
"I would not be surprised if we had another fire sometime soon in the next couple of months," he said.
Public conversations appeared to have fizzled out and on June 28, his words rang true. More is understood about the latest fire that happened two blocks from city hall, but questions remain.
"We're essentially gambling," Conway said.
Aging infrastructure has also been blamed for the problem, but that's an oversimplification according to Conway.
Once sparked, the fires also pose difficulties for firefighters not only to contain it, but to investigate the cause.
"I think how we strategize, how we prioritize is just as as important if not, in many instances, more important than the condition of the infrastructure," he said. "If we're smart we can get ahead of those concerns now but if we're reactive, we'll play whack a mole."
A COMPLEX SYSTEM COMPLICATED BY LEGAL CONCERNS
Conway blames the lack of answers on concerns over legal issues.
There are many players that are part of the underground conduit system that provide power and internet to customers downtown and also support critical public safety services.
The city owns it, DOT manages it but BGE controls the capital investment. According to a press release from the Mayor's Office "[t]he City remains in control of the quality of any improvements that BGE undertakes to the conduit."
Other private companies like Verizon, Comcast, Vicinity and Crown Castle also use the system.
"I think that really has halted some of the efforts for the city to put a finger on exactly what the problem is," Conway said. "While I do care about legal ramifications, I care much more about the safety of Baltimoreans walking around downtown," he added.
Comcast VP of Communications Kristie Fox said in the following statement:
“Following the recent underground fire, we had a small number of customers who lost service and the majority were restored on July 2. We are one of many providers that utilize the underground conduit and are awaiting access to one manhole to fully restore services to the remaining customers as quickly and safely as possible.”
A Verizon spokesperson shared this statement:
"Our network engineers have confirmed that Verizon's network is operating normally in the Baltimore area. We are aware of the fire in the area, and our teams have confirmed there has been no impact to our equipment."
BGE declined WMAR-2 News' request for an interview but stressed in a statement again it does not believe BGE facilities are the source of the fire.
The mayor's office reports it did have a "productive" meeting last year between city officials and conduit lease holders about the root causes.
"The group discussed the root causes of the North Charles Street fires and the City’s response, shared information about incidents, and explored ways the City can best support stakeholders. The goal of the meeting was to provide attendees with a platform to discuss solutions to underground fires," press secretary Jonas Poggi told WMAR-2 News.
It's not clear what insight or specific changes came from this meeting. But Poggi said representatives continue to meet internally "to determine best practices for managing underground utilities."
A third party investigator "with specialized expertise" was also hired.
Conway has convened a hearing later this month on July 22, where all the stakeholders are invited.
"I think it's critical that we bring all the people back to the table and and really get down to business about what's going on here, put all the risk and finger pointing aside and let's just figure out what we need to do to fix the problem and address it as quickly as possible," Conway said.
Fox says a Comcast representative will be in attendance. It's unclear if the other entities will be.
INCONVENIENCES CONTINUE INTO NEXT WEEK
Though there were no injuries, or major outages reported, the construction is causing frustrations for people who work nearby.
"Hopefully they just get it under control so we can have a better work environment and be able to get home and from work because nobody wants to deal with this every day," ChaLaeza Windsor who also works for the mayor's summer youth program said.
Crews brought out heavy machinery and shut down sidewalks on Tuesday. DOT reports more than 600 feet of duct has been replaced so far.
BGE reports the repairs will run into next week.