BALTIMORE --
An east Baltimore family is out of their home and staying in a hotel after their rowhome was damaged in a fire sparked by a utility pole that fell onto their roof on Monday.
WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Mindy Mizell said the homeowner and his neighbors said this was an accident that could have been avoided.
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Mizell reported the blaze started when a utility pole collapsed just before 2 p.m. Monday. Marco Moya and his family of six said they are lucky no one was hurt --- all of them were either at work or outside.
His neighbors said they didn't see the pole go down, but definitely heard it the moment it fell.
"I hear a loud explosion, like boom, and the lights went out," said neighbor Tony Porter.
Baltimore Gas and Electric would only say that more than 400 homes and local businesses lost power.
At Captain Frank's Seafood, Cece Heisa said their lights went out almost instantly.
"It was like a big boom and the electric went out," Heisa said.
For two hours, she said they waited in the dark. Heisa said it wasn't the fire, or even the outage that upset them or their neighbors the most. Instead, they said the collapse was avoidable and that they'd been calling about the frail pole all month.
"It was just leaning like this," Heisa said. "It's been leaning for a couple weeks, since we had those windy days. It's been leaning."
Moya said ever since this spring's windstorms, the pole only continued to dip dangerously near his home.
"For a couple days, it was blowing and the wires they were hitting my windows," Moya said.
His neighbors said their concerns should have been handled immediately to avoid what they call such a dangerously close call.
Mizell reported no one was hurt but the Moyas said they don't know when they can move back inside their home. BGE said it has begun an investigation.
