From right to left, the businesses in the burned building were Hawk Cleaners (where the fire probably started, a total loss), Kee Kar Lau restaurant, Maria's Italian Cold Cuts, and a Somerville police substation.

Live feed for Somerville FD

By O-FISH-L on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 11:41pm.

Live feed for Somerville PD and FD.

Sounds like the roof has collapsed in three places.

When did this start?

By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 12:16am.

I drove by there a little before 5pm, and was just down the road at Danish Pastry House until 6:30 pm and there were no sudden bursts of fire engines (which would happen due to mutual aid). Sounds like what ever happened has happened quite fast.

I walked around the corner

By anon on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 12:25am.

I walked around the corner from Newbury st onto Broadway around 10:45 and the smoke was really thick. There were only a few trucks and a cruiser at that time, so I could guess it hadn't started too long before that (maybe 10 at the earliest???). I just got home and there are trucks from Everett, Chelsea, Boston, Somerville and Belmont (probably Cambridge too) still out there working on it. Before 11:30 or so they cut through a side door to get in where blue flames had been shooting out from the building. At that time the inside of the building was pure orange with flames. Hopefully no one was hurt, this was pretty intense.

Started in Hawk Cleaners

By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 12:35am.

According to Wicked Somerville: http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/news/x113851...

The workers in the restaurant called it in around 11pm.

Meanwhile, 5th alarm in Boston @ 35 Calumet Street

By O-FISH-L on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 1:27am.

Meanwhile, 5th alarm in Boston @ 35 Calumet Street. House fire with report of people trapped.

Calumet S fire

By Mollynotloggedin on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 1:45am.

Has apparently spread to 37-39 and 41 Calumet. I can smell the smoke from Fort Hill.

(Doesn't anybody sleep around here?)

Eyewitness account of Teele Square fire

By Ron Newman on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 4:26am.

here, from Ian Judge (manager of Somerville Theatre), who lives in the area.

Somerville Patch report + lots of photos

By Ron Newman on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 4:49am.

Major fire strikes Teele Square Saturday night

and the fire station is...

By anon on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 11:12pm.

one fire station is no more than 10 seconds walking distance from the location. while i don't want to be critical of the firefighters who responded to the blaze, it does raise concerns about response times and safety inspections.

This required mutual aid from surrounding towns

By Ron Newman on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:44am.

I didn't witness the fire personally, but this was a multiple-alarm blaze that required assistance from other towns. I doubt that the Teele Square fire station delayed its response. However, it may have taken a while for the folks in the Chinese restaurant (the only storefront still occupied at 11 pm) to realize that an adjoining part of their building was on fire and to call 911.

i can assure you there were

By anon on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 9:14pm.

i can assure you there were no delays in responding.....make sure you know what you're talking about before you speak

Simply because as a nearby

By anon on Sat, 11/05/2011 - 4:52pm.

Simply because as a nearby resident and going on what little has been reported, I'm expressing legitimate questions and concerns. What personal knowledge do you have to give such assurances?

Photos of the fire's aftermath, a half-day later

By Ron Newman on Mon, 10/31/2011 - 7:54am.

I walked around the fire scene yesterday afternoon and took this set of photos.

The dry-cleaner's part of the building is a total loss. I expect to see it demolished very shortly. I hope the other three storefronts (Kee Kar Lau restaurant, Maria's Italian Cold Cuts, and the Somerville Police Department's West substation) can ber saved and reopened.

With a dry-cleaner & restaurant(s) so near each other,

By anon on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 8:33am.

it's not surprising that such a nasty fire went up so quickly. Not sure if the dry-cleaner can be salvaged, but I agree that the restaurants nearby that were affected should be salvaged and re-opened, if possible.

Glad nobody was hurt or killed in that fire.

The dry-cleaner is totally unsalvageable

By Ron Newman on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 8:17pm.

If you look at my photos (and others), or just walk by the place, you'll see that it was utterly destroyed.

The Chinese restaurant doesn't look nearly as bad from the outside, but Jackie Rossetti at City Hall says it too will need to be demolished (along with the Italian cold cut shop and the police substation).

Given the kind of strong chemicals used in dry cleaners,

By anon on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 11:01am.

This:

If you look at my photos (and others), or just walk by the place, you'll see that it was utterly destroyed.

is not surprising. Too bad about the Italian cold cut shop and the police station, especially.

Dry cleaner, restaurant burn in Somerville

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