After the first Keswick Road fire in October, neighbors mourned the married couple lost to the flames and vowed to rebuild.

Since then, three more unexplained fires have broken out, each one wreaking renewed havoc on the stretch of attached rowhomes. Now, neighbors aren’t sure what to think.

The block includes a mix of longtime homeowners and newcomers just around the corner from the beloved Miracle on 34th Street holiday display. Young and old have been rattled by each blaze. At least nine properties on the block have been damaged and demolished in three waves, and the scent of ash continues to fill the air.

Rumors are swirling: Was it arson? Was it accidental?

One thing’s for certain, neighbors say: There’s no guarantee they won’t hear those sirens again.

“It is scary,” said Alia Almeida Shahid, who moved to the block in February from Brooklyn, New York. She could still taste the smoke days after the third and fourth fires, which were just days apart in May.

She’s sad, she said, for Matthew and Kathy Schmale, the neighbors she never met who perished in the first fire, and for those whose homes and worlds have been destroyed.

How can the block move on from such heaviness? “More transparency” about what has happened, Almeida Shahid said.

Baltimore Police, city firefighters, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating, according to Mayor Brandon Scott’s office. Police have upped patrols in the area and set up a portable streetlight on the block. The fire department has installed and tested smoke alarms in homes and dispersed safety information throughout the neighborhood.

The Baltimore Department of Housing and Community Development plans to build a retaining wall and a weather wall on Keswick Road, too. The agency also helped coordinate temporary housing for displaced residents.

City Councilwoman Odette Ramos, who represents the community, hosted a community meeting in October and has been keeping close tabs on the area in the months since. She’s keeping her suspicions about the situation close to the vest.

“It’s being investigated all the way around,” she said. “We’re doing everything we can.”

This isn’t the first time the city has been hit by a series of mysterious and destructive fires.

Last July, five elementary/middle school buildings — four of them vacant, and all but one in West Baltimore — caught on fire. Police said a work group formed in the aftermath to discuss how to prevent future fires at the sites.

A few months later, Keswick Road saw its first fire. Many of the homes on the block were built in 1900, with fire-prone wood and outdated safety features that fueled the flames.

John Marsh, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said the cause of the initial blaze was ruled undetermined due to the amount of structural damage the home suffered when it collapsed. Firefighters struggled to access the home during the blaze, he said, because of heavy flames and “an impediment” at the front of the house.

Marsh said the number of subsequent fires in the area prompted authorities to keep investigating. They’ve collected video available in the area. Neighbors also reported that they saw people squatting in some of the empty homes that burned, he said.

He couldn’t answer any questions about theories being explored by investigators due to the ongoing probe.

“We remain committed to identifying the cause of these fires and ensuring the safety of the community,” he said. “We appreciate the public’s patience and cooperation, and we will provide updates as information becomes available and appropriate for release.”

William Sillaman, who lives across the street from the site of the four blazes, helped pull two neighbors to safety in October. He spent a few hours at a nearby hospital after inhaling smoke.

He can still smell it — and he’s heard all the rumors. He hopes the worst is behind them.

“I don’t know what exactly is going on,” he said. “I just hope it’s over now.”