State fire investigators are still trying to determine the cause of a massive fire that “roared” through the former administration building at the Rosewood Hospital Center in Owings Mills early Monday morning.
A Baltimore County emergency medical team first noticed the blaze at about 1:45 a.m. Monday on the Rosewood campus, which officials said has been vacant for at least 15 years. More than 100 firefighters, called in from Carroll County and Baltimore City, took at least four hours to extinguish the blaze, said Baltimore County fire director James Korn. No injuries were reported, but the building is a total loss, he said.
“It?s a shame,” he said. “It?s a lovely, grand, old stately building and all the outside walls are still there, but the inside is pretty much gone.”
Fire crews exhausted an on-site water supply and two other sources were brought in as officials closed Reisterstown Road between Owings Mills Boulevard and Painters Mill Road. The road was reopened at 8 a.m., but Korn said crews would likely remain on the scene throughout the afternoon to battle hot spots.
Because the fire was on state property, Korn said investigators from the state?s fire marshal office will take over the case. Spokesman Faron Taylor said investigators must determinewhere the fire started before they can figure out what started it. He said heavy equipment including a crane will be brought in today to help investigators dig through the rubble.
“Anytime you have a vacant building and it catches fire,” Korn said, “you?re looking at lots of causes and certainly arson is one of those.”
