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Smoker blamed for seven-alarm fire that ravaged Mass. Ave. apartment building
By adamg on Sat, 02/01/2014 - 2:44pm
UPDATE: The Boston Fire Department blames a smoker:
Fire Investigators state the cause of the 7 alarm fire was the careless disposal of smoking material, 5th floor rear apt
A fire that broke out around 2:15 p.m. at 31 Massachusetts Avenue went to seven alarms and injured two firefighters.
The Boston Fire Department reports 35 residents were made homeless but that none were injured.
The department estimated damage at $2.5 million.
Justine Pouravelis watched the fire from her window:
Joseph Couture saw the fire from the Fenway:
BFD photographed a fifth-floor apartment after the fire was knocked down:
Deborah Elizabeth Finn reports that as many firefighters as there are in this photo, it doesn't show all the firefighters who rushed to the scene:
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Comments
Nice work Jakes.
Nice work Jakes.
Not sure I would want PR shots from my just scorched home
Being in a fire is one of my greatest fears, and fire men and women demonstrate incredible bravery when they rush into a home. If this were my home, however, I would be bothered that the PR folks tweet images from inside. It's one thing when photos are for the investigation, but broadcasting shots from inside seems a violation of privacy for the purpose of promotion.
No one from Boston refers to
No one from Boston refers to firefighters as "jakes". Whatever idiot Herald reporter started calling them that needs a slap.
What's with the little storefront at this building? Always has weird political posters in the window.
You really couldn't
be any more wrong.
Not so sure about jakes
I'm well beyond the AARP sign-up age and I have heard the term "jake" used here. However, in different departments it may mean something varied. It can have a derogatory meaning but in some departments it is embraced.
Here (Boston) I have heard "jakes" used for pump/water firefighters. The ladder unit is called simply a "truck" (as opposed to a pump) and their staff are called "truckies." In fact you can listen to BFD radio and they frequently refer to the ladder as a "truck."
Pumps are used for initial assault on the main body of fire and "extensions" where fire has moved into unseen places. Truckies initial task is rescue and ventilation (letting out hot and dangerous gases caused by combustion), followed by "overhauling" which is the action of tearing out ceilings and walls to seek out fire that has "extended" or was unseen so it can be extinguished. This is sometimes referred-to as "hot spots."
Of course as new generations take up the profession, old terms may eventually die out.
All firefighters are charged with search and rescue of course, and all are card-carrying EMTs (like on ambulances). On weekdays, pumps are dispatched to health emergencies (inhalator cases), and on weekends the ladder/truck units take the task. They will back up Boston EMS or stabilize a patient until the ambulance arrives if delayed.
Obviously you don't know anyone
one in the firefighting arena, here in Boston or anywhere for that matter.
Storefront
Yeah I always walk by that storefront and always see Republican-ish and/or anti-Obama posters. For a time I thought it was a just a bike repair shop owned by someone with moderate right wing views. But the place inside looks like a mess so I'm not sure what it is. There is always a dark green minivan parked nearby with a political poster in the window as well. Anybody know what this place is? Maybe somebody is just living there?
The only business I could find listed at that address
is a pest control company.
Jake is a long used term for
Jake is a long used term for firefighters in Boston and many Boston firefighters use the term in reference to each other
Thank you BFD!!
Thank you BFD!!
Another smoker
Original post updated with info on the cause of the fire.
WHAT. A. SURPRISE.
This is a truly shocking, entirely unforeseen development to spring on an unsuspecting UHub audience reading about a tragic fire.
Another reason to encourage e
Another reason to encourage e-cigs.
You expect that they were
You expect that they were smoking cigarettes and not cigars or other substances?
It has been reported that the
It has been reported that the cause of the fire is improper disposal of a cigarette. That was a $2.5 million dollar cigarette that could have killed someone.
It's incredible that people can be so damned irresponsible.
It's incredible how people can be so damned irresponsible and so woefully short on good, common sense, especially if one lives in an apartment building with other people in such close proximity to each other. This is a gross disguard for the welfare, well-being and lives of others.
As a smoker I agree. I hate
As a smoker I agree. I hate smoking inside. Not only is it disgusting, but it's unsafe for everyone in the building.
Engineered To Keep Burning
Unlike cigars, or other "hand rolled" smoking materials, cigarettes are deliberately engineered to continue burning when left unattended.
really?
I have heard there have been life fires, in part, due to changes in cigarettes so that they do not keep burning
No one's gonna
leave a cannabis cigarette unattended.
Im sure when they start
Im sure when they start rebuilding, they will add fire sprinklers. According to City of Boston assesing website there are many units worth over $350,000 at 31 Mass ave.
45 years ago....
... I lived in that building as a student at MIT (which was just across the river). While I went home (to NY) during the summer of 1968, my roommate stayed on. His parents bought him a window a/c as a birthday present, in July, but the apartment had no power outlet near the window, so he strung a series of extension cords. They overheated, and started a fire which completely gutted our apartment (unit 33, as I recall). Fortunately, it was during the day, and no one was home, and no one was injured.