A warehouse fire in East Baltimore Thursday night caused an oil spill into the Inner Harbor, prompting a rapid response by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).
The oil spill happened just a day before the Baltimore Floatilla, in which 300 kayakers and paddlers will navigate around the Harbor in support of clean water.
The four alarm fire happened overnight Thursday into Friday at a mattress factory on East Monument Street.
MDE first noticed oil discharge from the fire washing into storm drains, then tracked it to the place where the Jones Falls meets the harbor, between President Street and Pier Six. They called in the Coast Guard’s pollution team.
“The flow of the water is bringing the oil to us, so that’s in our benefit," said Chief Petty Officer Sean Devine, an on-site pollution responder.