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Smoker starts North End fire that kills two
By adamg on Wed, 11/22/2017 - 7:49am
Firefighters going up. Photo by BFD.
The Boston Fire Department reports "careless disposal of smoking material" started a three-alarm fire at 282 Hanover St. that killed two men - one after he jumped from the building to escape the flames.
The second man was found dead inside the building.
They are the first fire deaths in Boston this year, the department reports. Boston Police homicide detectives joined the investigation, standard for all fire deaths.
Firefighters responded at 1 a.m. for a fire on the third floor of the five-floor building. The smoker was in a second-floor bedroom, the department reports.
Two other adults and an infant were taken to to the hospital with injuries.
The fire caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage, the department says, adding 12 people were made homeless.
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Comments
2nd rate? (Typo in summary)
The quality of the room is unknown but its location was on the 2nd floor.
I'm sure the 1st rate BFD did all they could.
Fixed, thanks
What happens when I post from my phone.
Smokers kill...
... in more ways than one. Everybody is pretty much aware of how dangerous secondhand smoke is. It's less well known how common it is for lit cigarettes to cause fires in residential buildings.
Two in the last two weeks on uHub
Newburg in Rosi now this one. Scary.
Horrifying that someone
Horrifying that someone jumped to their death because of a cigarette. Devestating for all of the familes involved.
It is terrible!
Sorry that the two men were killed in the North End fire.
My thoughts are with the friends and loved ones of the two deceased men.
If smokers want to kill
If smokers want to kill themselves then just jump off a bridge and get it over with. Leave the rest of us out of it. The world would be better off without smokers anyway. Time to raise the cigarette tax even more to pay for the death and destruction they cause and start fining smokers who throw their disgusting butts wherever they feel like it.
Coffin nails
But it might not be your coffin
How do you know it wasn't weed
.
Nice try
Pot smokers don't waste any of their smoking material.
Also
Weed cigs go out if they aren't being puffed on. So do hand-rolled tobacco smokes. Commercial cigarettes have chemicals added so they keep burning when set down. Eliminating those chemicals would probably prevent a lot of fires.
What difference would ...
... make if it was tobacco or weed?
Semantics
A lot of pot smokers lecture tobacco smokers about the social risks (fires, 2nd hand, etc) and somehow think they are immune.
I'd like to see smoking any drug banned. (Using it other ways, fine.)
a joint or even a blunt is
a joint or even a blunt is way less flammable than a chemical laden cigarettes do your HW
Why don't weed smokers get the abuse
smoking weed is looked on w benevolence (Compare to driving a car) (smoking a cigarette)
Because Facts are Things
And the fact is that cigarettes are designed to keep burning without inhalation, and weed does not keep burning without the air being pulled through.
Someone even posted some test results by fire safety people. Anyone got that link?
Really?
Then how did this happen? According to the firefighters who saved our building, our neighbors emptied their bong into a wastebasket (then left in their car; they often get high before driving, filling our building with stinky fumes, the dear lads). Whatever was in the wastebasket ignited and the flames spread to a nearby desk. There would have been a major fire had we not just come home and heard the smoke alarm.
Some test results
http://www.nafi.org/blog/ignition-propensity-of-cannabis-cigarettes/
Your dumbasses may vary, but ciggies are far more likely to start a fire. More likely - not "will start" versus "won't start".
Glad smokers are not a
Glad smokers are not a protected class. I'll never rent to one and because I live in the building, if one lies to me, they're out posthaste. No quarter to murderous lying sociopaths, no exceptions.
My dad smoked in the 80s. Hearing him hork up a lung every morning was all the anti-smoking propaganda I needed.
Evidence, not propaganda
Evidence, not propaganda
My dad began smoking when he was in the Army, during WWII,
he smoked all the way up until Christmastime of 1969, when we were vacationing at Bolton Valley for a ski trip. It snowed 18 inches every night, so my dad wasn't able to go out and get cigarettes, so he was able to quit, although he was hard to live with for awhile.
It used to scare the hell out of us kids to hear our dad cough this horrible cigarette cough every morning, while we were getting ready to go to school. That was all the anti-smoking advice I needed, as well.
Smoker's Hack = Gen-X Antismoking Campaign
My dad had that smoker's hack from a two pack a day habit. When he got pneumonia (he never got sick) he decided that he had to do something about it. My Mom had quit years before by spending money on a book club (they lived in a rural area at the time) instead of ciggies, so my Dad took a cue from her and used the money he saved to get something he really wanted: a TRS-80.
Years later, a friend of mine was bemoaning that she couldn't afford to get a cat after her cat died because she didn't have enough money to care for it. I asked her point blank: how much do you spend on cigarettes, and what do you want more? It wasn't a month gone by before I started receiving kitten pictures. Having a furbaby provided emotional support for quitting, and motivation ("I'm not going to smoke in the house with fuzzy there!").
Smokers have heard all the health messages - including the hacking. Sometimes they need to be reminded that it is under their control, and that there are choices.
Candles kill
Smoking kills, candles also. olease everyone be safe and careful.
A lot of smokers really don't give a shit,
until it really hits home, if one gets the drift.
What a sad, sad story
And I hope these guys went quickly. After reading this, I purchased some roll up ladders for my house. They were $56 for a 3 story ladder and $35 for a 2 story ladder, both with free shipping. There's no guarantee these would've helped, but if my tenants or I are ever in this situation, they'll be there by every window, just in case.
i am so sorry
for the life lost and the others impacted by this. being from the burbs of a rural state where we mostly live near the ground, the fire potential of a city apartment building really scares me. that someone had to jump off a fifth floor roof to avoid burning to death, only to perish from the fall, is beyond horrible and there aren't words. it's a reminder of the speed with which fire moves that none of us is prepared for so tragic
Trade offs
In a rural place, the fire department may never get to you, and they may not have an easy source of water around.
In an urban place, they come fast with ladders and plenty of water.
I'd much rather live in the urban place.
also
woulda coulda shoulda but it makes one think they ought to have on hand flame-retardant mesh ladders and other lines terminating in grapnel hooks....sounds insane I know, but the alternative--having no means of escape--is much worse
Or maybe smokers should
Or maybe smokers should properly dispose of their ciggies. Way to blame the recently deceased though.
That's how the fire in Allston that killed Binland Lee started.
It's bad enough that the slumlord who owned that property didn't do what she was supposed to do to update the wiring in that place, or to have a second egress put into the house, near the attic bedroom, which trapped Binland Lee, which caused her to die of smoke inhalation.
However, the students didn't properly dispose of smoking materials properly, which is what started the fire in the first place. Inotherwords, these students didn't act very smart, and they helped contribute to the loss of a friend/roomate's life, as a consequence.
Exactly.
I purchased a 50 foot climbing rope for my 2nd story apartment months ago just IN CASE.
All these old Brick buildings
All these old Brick buildings in the North End Charlestown etc have no modern fire sprinkler systems, fire estinguishers should be mandatory for all property owners in Mass.
Banning smoking should be
Banning smoking should be mandatory in all of those old brick buildings.
Also good for cleaning gutters
My sons harness up to work on the roof each fall.
Kidde just recalled millions
Kidde just recalled millions of fire extinguishers and smoke/carbon detectors - some made as far back as the 1970s!
Manny buildings in the north end do not have second staircases or fire escapes- they have a small metal balcony that connects them to a window in a building next to them.
Why did someone in an apartment three stories above the fire be so desperate as to jump from the building rather than use the staircase? What was the condition of the fire escape?
This is an absolute horror and prayers for the two men and their families. I hope the city does fire escape inspections. Most second regresses I. The north end are inadequate or non existing.
2nd Means of Egress
Was there a second stairwell or emergency stairs to get out? That's code I believe.
Red Cross has a great fire carbon monoxide program
Sorry to these two victims and their families. No reflection on these two, but people in older homes should look into the Red Cross for fire prevention. They will come out and install free, modern smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. In my case it was two young Red Cross volunteers from India. They wouldn't even take a tip, all services and devices free. I own a multi-family and they did every apartment. I would recommend everyone call.
It's also always wise to have a fire extinguisher. Many old-school fire extinguisher places in Greater Boston will give you one at little or no cost. It might not be a pretty one but worth it to hide in a handy closet. It might make the difference in an emergency.