Second Baltimore FF Dies of Injuries Suffered in Deadly Blaze

A second Baltimore City firefighter who was injured while fighting last week’s fatal two-alarm blaze has died, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Lt. Dillon Rinaldo has died, the spokesperson for Johns Hopkins Medicine confirmed Wednesday morning, less than a week after the six-year veteran of the department was hospitalized with burns.

He was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center last week after being injured in the Northwest Baltimore fire and remained in “critical but stable” condition over the weekend. The fire department said over the weekend that Rinaldo was expected to have a lengthy hospital stay.

Another firefighter, Rodney Pitts III, died Thursday evening after being injured in blaze that ripped through multiple row homes on the 5200 block of Linden Heights Avenue that afternoon. The first viewing for Pitts is scheduled to begin later Wednesday, and a funeral is slated for Friday morning.

In addition to Pitts and Rinaldo, three other Baltimore firefighters were injured in the Thursday blaze that spanned four row houses. Firefighters Seth Robbins, a 17-year veteran, Keith Brooks II, a 14-year veteran, and Tavon Marshall, a 3-year veteran, were treated and released from the hospital.

Investigators are still probing the cause of the fire in the Woodmere neighborhood. One of the charred houses was a rental, two were vacant properties, and one was occupied by an owner, according to city housing data. It’s unclear where the fire started.

The deadly blaze came as the city’s fire department was still reeling from the deaths of three firefighters who were killed last year as they attacked a burning vacant property on South Stricker Street. That fire also seriously wounded another firefighter.

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