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Steam plant catches fire

By adamg on Mon, 10/04/2021 - 9:50pm
Steam plant on fire

Photo by BFD.

The Boston Fire Department reports that firefighters who responded to an alarm at the Veolia steam plant at 165 Kneeland St. around 7:30 p.m. found fire on multiple floors in the eight-story plant.

The fire, which went to two alarms, caused no injuries and is now under investigation, the department says.

Steam from the plant travels through pipes under downtown streets to heat older buildings.

City records show the plant first came online in 1928.

It's currently assessed at $10.8 million, down from $11.5 million in 2019. In a tax decision in September of that year, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the plant, smaller plants on Scotia Street and in Kendall Square in Cambridge and all the pipes that connect them to customer buildings are part of a "great integral machine," and so exempt from certain taxes under state law and rulings dating to the 1860s.

Neighborhoods: 
Chinatown
Topics: 
Fire
Free tagging: 
Kneeland Street
Veolia


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Comments

By Don't Panic on Mon, 10/04/2021 - 10:19pm.

I don't know who took this picture but damn that building looks impressive. You kind of take it forgranted when you walk by everyday.

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By Lanny Budd on Mon, 10/04/2021 - 10:40pm.

https://old.reddit.com/r/evilbuildings/

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By adamg on Mon, 10/04/2021 - 11:13pm.

Is a giant inflatable pig floating in the air and tethered to the smokestack.

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By impressed on Tue, 10/05/2021 - 12:06pm.

This is SUCH a cool pic!!!!!! Wow.

I'm regularly impressed by photos on this site, but this might be my all-time fav.

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By Seymour Skinner on Mon, 10/04/2021 - 11:00pm.

This place is the key to steaming a good ham.

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By blueingreen on Tue, 10/05/2021 - 8:30am.

Just a couple weeks ago, I came across that Veolia NA's energy play was actually sold to Antin (another French infrastructure company) just before the pandemic started. Antin then renamed its NA region to "Vicinity".

https://www.veolianorthamerica.com/media/newsroom/veolia-north-america-s...

https://www.vicinityenergy.us/who-we-are

Vicinity's HQ is actually in Boston:
https://www.vicinityenergy.us/contact-us

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By anon on Tue, 10/05/2021 - 9:17am.

for a giant dumpling factory.

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By John Costello on Tue, 10/05/2021 - 9:48am.

The plant's steam also powers a lot of Gillette's production machinery across the channel.

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By Gary C on Tue, 10/05/2021 - 12:50pm.

My impression is that this plant heats a lot of buildings downtown (and as noted above, perhaps machinery at Gillette.) If they found fire on multiple floors, that doesn't sound good for this plant being it's normal steamy self as we head into heating season.

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By Burzmali on Tue, 10/05/2021 - 5:01pm.

Word on the street is that the building's steam generation was not affected by the fire.

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By SwirlyGrrl on Tue, 10/05/2021 - 9:19pm.

Or did the building just put up the Bat Signal?
IMAGE(https://wgntv.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/06/batsignal-e1497531804121.jpeg?strip=1)

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