Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott recalls phone call, "The Key Bridge is gone"
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott remembers when the fire chief called him in the middle of the night and told him the iconic Francis Scott Key Bridge was in the Patapsco River.
Around 1:30 a.m. on March 26, 2024, a large cargo ship crashed into the Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, killing six construction workers who were repairing the road.
Mayor Scott stopped by WJZ on Wednesday to reflect on the one-year mark of the tragic bridge collapse.
"I will never forget that conversation with him as long as I live," Scott said. "He said, 'Sir, the Key Bridge is gone.' I said, 'Repeat that.' He said, 'It's gone, it's in the water.'"
Mayor Scott knew that when Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace was calling in the middle of the night, there would be bad news.
The mayor said he immediately called government leaders and rushed to Fort Armistead Park, which overlooks the Key Bridge collapse site.
"I go into emergency response mode," Scott said. "I'm calling the governor, the Senate president, everybody that I need to call, as I am getting out of the house and en route to Fort Armistead Park.
Thinking of the Key Bridge victims
The Key Bridge collapse crippled the Port of Baltimore and the businesses that benefit from the port, but more importantly, six construction workers died.
They were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Suazo-Sandoval, Miguel Luna, Jose Lopez, and Carlos Hernandez.
"When you think about it, obviously the most important thing is, six people lost their lives," Scott told WJZ. "Six families had their lives disrupted and changed forever."
The construction workers were filling potholes on the Key Bridge when the 948-foot vessel Dali lost power and smashed into one of the bridge's main spans.
"That is always going to be the largest takeaway from this: people who were working hard every day to make all of our lives better, including mine as someone who frequently went over the bridge, lost their lives because of this tragedy," Scott said.
Coming together in tragedy
Through tragedy, Scott said he recalls the cohesiveness in response -- from recovering the victims from the river to clearing the main channel to lifting businesses around the Port of Baltimore and working on a new bridge.
"When you look back at it, you also think about how people came together," Scott said. "The thing that I will always take it is, from those very moments, on that shore before the sun came up, everyone from the governor's team, my team, the local and federal governments, everyone was working together as one."
The mayor said Baltimore and the state turned a tragic and deflating moment into a moment of triumph and resiliency.
"Baltimore, Maryland, does what it always does -- come together to wrap our arms around those families and each other as we lifted ourselves up throughout that tragedy," Scott said.
Gov. Moore on the Key Bridge collapse
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also sat down with WJZ to discuss the impacts of the Key Bridge collapse.
Moore said he'll never forget when he got the early morning call from Fagan Harris, his chief of staff, informing him that the Key Bridge was gone.
"You know, good news waits until the morning, it's always the bad news that wakes you up. And the first words, he said - Governor, I'm so sorry. He said, The Key Bridge is gone," Moore said.
Moore said his most unforgettable memories from the morning of the collapse were his meeting with the families of the collapse victims, who looked to him for answers.
"The things I will never forget that morning were when they brought me in to meet with all the families who, at that time, were just they were still looking for answers and still holding out hope," Moore said. "I said, we will, we will stop at nothing to do everything that we can do to bring our family members back home."
Ceremony of remembrance
On Wednesday morning, Maryland leaders paid their respects to the victims of the collapse and the ones who responded.
The remembrance ceremony took place near where the remaining spans of the Key Bridge stand.
Gov. Moore thanked the firefighters, officers, and other first responders who stopped traffic, dove into the water, and put themselves in harm's way to save lives and recover the victims of the Key Bridge collapse.
"What happened on March 26, 2024, is and always will be a tragedy beyond words," Gov. Wes Moore said.
