Engine 271 of the Wise Avenue Volunteer Fire Company was the first on the scene of the Feb. 10 fire at Dundalk Station 6.   
    photo by Joseph M. Giordano

Units stored intemporary bay

by Joseph M. Giordano

Two weeks after a two-alarm fire gutted Dundalk Station 6, fire and emergency medical personnel  who had been working out of Sollers Point Technical High School returned home to their Dunmanway station, according to Elise Armacost, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore County Fire Department.
    Both fire and EMS crews moved back to the station on Feb. 24, Armacost said.
    The living quarters at Station 6 passed an inspection by county structural engineers,  she said.
    After the Feb. 10 fire, the county cleaned up the site and made interim repairs to the damaged portion of the building, according to Armacost
    “We have been working very hard to return the Dundalk firefighters to their home station,” Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. said in a statement released Friday.  “Now we are eager to settle the insurance claims and start rebuilding the station as soon as possible.  I am very proud of the way the people of Dundalk and our firefighters responded to a challenging situation.”
    The two units that were saved from the fire, Engine 6 and a medic unit vehicle, are being housed in a temporary bay constructed in front of the old one, according to Armacost.
    There was still no word on how much monetary damage was caused by the fire, she said, and the cause remained under investigation as of Tuesday.
    The first station on the scene to help battle the blaze was the Wise Avenue Volunteer Fire Company, whose Engine 271 and Engine 272 responded  to  the first alarm of the two-alarm fire.
    “We were stunned with disbelief we arrived,” said Wise Avenue Chief Tom Ludwig said Monday. “Engine 6 was already battling the fire when we arrived. We just jumped out and did what we had to do.”    
    Baltimore County Councilman John Olszewski Sr. (7th District) was pleased and relieved to hear that the fire personnel had returned to the station.
    “Myself and the community are glad to have them back where they can do the most good,” Olszewski said Friday. “The people who work at Station 6 are really heroes, and it’s great news that they are returning home.”