“700 ACRES FIRE SWEPT: Flames Burn Over Wide Area On The Ridgely Estate MANY VOLUNTEERS AID FIREMEN Several Homes Endangered”
(The Baltimore Sun, May 8, 1911)
The fire was started by two boys playing with matches in a weed patch behind Carney’s Hotel (now Das Bierhalle) on Harford Road. The 700 acres that burned were located between Harford, Joppa, Belair, and Putty Hill Roads. Fire Companies from Gardenville, Parkville, Hamilton, Towson, and Roland Park responded. The aerial photo from 1927 shows the area affected (still quite rural in 1927). The Carney and Snyder homes narrowly survived and are still standing today. Given that this conflagration occurred in 1911, it’s safe to assume at least some of the firefighters were veterans of the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. Thankfully, no one was killed, and the only injury reported was a firefighter who sustained a sprained ankle.
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