Two-Alarm Blaze Shuts Down Sparrows Point Pub

A two-alarm blaze at the 7 Card Pub in Sparrows Point early Monday took roughly two hours  to extinguish because of frigid temperatures and high winds, a bar manager said.

A half-dozen patrons, a barmaid and a bar manager were inside when tenants living above the pub came downstairs and reported smelling smoke, said Tom March, a 7 Card Pub manager on hand Monday as clean-up continued inside and outside the bar.

"The barmaid called 911, and by the time everyone was out, the flames were rolling out the (upstairs) windows," March said. "Thank God, no one was hurt."

Firefighters from the North Point-Edgemere Volunteer Fire Department and Baltimore County Fire Department local companies responded, March said.

Investigators believe an electrical fire may have started in the ceiling above the ladies room, March said.

He said an upstairs tenant's cats died in the fire, which began at 12:30 a.m.

The pub is owned by William Wallace and has been known for several years as the 7 Card Pub.

For 25 years, the Ruth Avenue neighborhood bar off Lodge Farm Road was known as the Avenue Tap.

Insurance appraisers looked over the property Monday, and March said he expected the damage to be covered.

"Most of the damage is from water and from the firefighters knocking down walls looking for things," he said. "But that's to be expected. My thinking at the moment is we should be open within a month."