F ³: Bigger Than Fireworks

It seems that last night was a night for lighting the lights - - in DC folks gathered near the White House for the National Tree Lighting festivities and in Baltimore they enacted the beloved holiday tradition of lighting up the Washington Monument. 

The event in Baltimore went off with a bit less panache this year as the usual fireworks display was deemed unsafe due to high winds buffeting the region. You may have heard that those same high winds contributed to the spread of a massive fire in Woodberry.

Massive fire rips through wood piles in Baltimore’s Woodberry neighborhood, shutting down I-83 Cody Boteler and Darreonna Davis, Baltimore Banner 

Fire officials said the blaze was reported as a brush fire on 1900 Brand Ave., though officials are not sure what sparked it initially. The fire was first called in around 5:13 p.m. by a city employee, Marsh said.

It spread to a facility called Camp Small*, an initiative of the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks which exists to recycle wood. What they do there is the good part of the story: 

The Camp Small Zero Waste Initiative is the wood waste collection yard run by the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks. The 5 acre site is located in the Jones Falls Valley just north of Cold Spring Lane. Every day, City crews and contractors bring logs, chips, and brush to the site for processing.  In early 2016, the Rec & Parks Forestry Division, in collaboration with the Baltimore Office of Sustainability, began the Camp Small Zero Waste initiative in an effort to sort and distribute the variety of wood products at the site.

The bad part is, of course, that when fire broke out there was just so…much…wood. It didn’t stand a chance against a brush fire and high winds. Do you remember recently when the county issued “no-burn”​directives? It’s precisely this kind of situation they fear.

The folks at Camp Small were featured in Baltimore Magazine in 2023. 

At Camp Small, City Foresters Give Local Trees a Second Life , by Lydia Woolever, Photography by Christopher Myers, Baltimore Magzine, April 2023

One thing that’s clear: this is a place where they love wood. Working with it, saving it from being wasted, finding new uses - - it’s a continuing journey of discovery for them.

“It’s a sea of inspiration,” says Nick Oster, a former woodshop teacher who runs Camp Small with yard master Shaun Preston, gesturing toward the mountain of wood. “We laugh at each other, because each time we saw open a log, we’re like ‘Oh, man! This is the most beautiful!’ With every single one.”

I’m sure that many families were disappointed by the lack of fireworks at the monument lighting last night. It’s hard to miss out on an anticipated tradition. I keep thinking, though, about Mr. Oster and Mr. Preston and what this fire means to them and to their work. This brief video from WJZ gives you a closer look at what they’ve been doing.

I woke up this morning wondering if climate change contributed to last night’s fire. And I wonder what’s next for Camp Small. 

Village Green/Town² Comments 

*Named after a Union Army encampment which was located nearby.