Well-informed sources tell The Brew that Baltimore Fire Chief James Clack has issued an order delaying any fire company closures – permanent or rotating – until July 5.

The order comes just hours before three fire companies were scheduled to be permanently closed on July 1, a decision that has generated strong condemnation from the firefighters unions, many citizens and some city politicians.

The delay is temporary, Clack told his staff today, in order to handle emergency calls stemming from last night’s violent storm.

Kevin Cartwright, the department’s spokesperson, emailed The Brew this afternoon: “Cannot confirm any changes. If for any reason something does change, we’ll announce it at that time.”

Mayor Reportedly Ordered the Delay

Sources tell The Brew that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ordered the delay after the storm led to an overwhelming number of citizen calls and stretched the fire department to its capacity.

There were 105 calls on the fire queue at one point early this morning, The Brew learned (see screen shot below).

((10:30 P.M. UPDATE: Informed sources report that the BCFD has been called upon to handle more than 1,000 “active incidents” in the last 24 hours, most of them in response to people with medical emergencies, heat exhaustion from lack of household electricity and other storm-related problems.))

“The mayor became painfully aware of the potential for disaster if the [three] companies are closed,” a department official said. This person did not wish to be identified because he was not authorized to talk about the decision.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Brew.

((10:30 P.M. UPDATE: Still no comment by mayor’s office on delay of fire company closures.))

The commanders of the three fire companies slated for closure tomorrow – Truck 10 in Harlem Park, Truck 15 in East Baltimore and Squad 11 in Greektown/Bayview – were notified around noon today.

In a phone interview, Michael Campbell, president of Fire Officers Association Local 964, confirmed that “all permanent closures will be delayed until 07:00 hours on July 5.”

Sources said an official announcement of the delay is expected to be made by the mayor’s office later today.

Clack Strategy Was “Ineffective” Last Night

Chief Clack has argued that the closing of the three fire companies – two of them among the busiest in the city – would not jeopardize citizen safety.

He has cited the longstanding arrangement of “mutual aid,” in which fire companies from surrounding counties respond to calls in the city, as a backup scenario for a major emergency.

“But last night the chief’s plan to rely on mutual aid was totally ineffective,” said a departmental source, “because the counties were dealing with the same storm and had a huge volume of citizen calls.”

Another source called the chief’s decision to keep the three companies open for five extra days bewildering.

“Either you need these companies or you don’t,” he said. “The department says they don’t need them, but then they keep them on because of a storm. There are going to be more storms.”