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Firefighters trapped by fire in Back Bay basement

Beacon Street fire.

beacon st fire clip 4

Photo by BFD.

UPDATE: WBZ reports two of the firefighters have died.

298 Beacon St. Nine alarms. Firefighters from Engine 33 were trapped without water. Three taken out with injuries, one in critical condition.

Prosecutors from the Suffolk County District Attorney's office are now on scene, standard procedure when a victim has life-threatening injuries.

At one point, commanders ordered all firefighters out of the four-story brownstone, built in 1871 and once owned by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The order came not long after a dispatcher lost contact with the Engine 33 firefighters, who issued a Mayday call.

Boston EMS reports a total of 18 people have been transported to local hospitals.

Department chaplains were summoned to both the fire scene and Mass. General, where at least one firefighter was brought.

Beacon Street and Storrow Drive are shut. BFD estimates it could be several hours before the fire is completely put out.

Engine 33, based in the historic Boylston Street fire house, was one of the first BFD units to respond to the Marathon bombings last year.

Also see:
Officials: Firefighters saved lives before they gave their own.
Honoring the fallen.

The fire from Kendall Square (photo by Chia Evers):

Photo by BFD:

Photo by Mark Eichin:

Neighborhoods: 
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Comments

they have called for a priest to come to the fire building. prayers for all involved.

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PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

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Nomini pater, et fili, et spiritum sanctem, amen.

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Turned my scanner at 5 alarms, then it jumped to 7, shortly after it was up to 9. Now it is at 10 alarms.

While those three fire fighters were missing... man, that was so intense. I felt so frustrated listening in as they called everyone out of the building in the jump from 5 to 7 alarms. I nearly got sick just listening. Can't even imagine what it was like for them.

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YAY! UHub is back up! What gives, Adam?!

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Crashed not long after news of the fire spread. Then it proved difficult to bring back up at the data center, I guess.

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Could it have been an unrelated, ill-timed power outage?

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The server's physically in Pittsburgh. When I called support, they already had a tech down in the data center - the UHub klaxon was blaring :-).

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Wasn't there something about a tech and a hammer?

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Pair? They've always been good to me.

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Since we all know where to go to get information on breaking local news. I'm sure everyone within earshot of the sirens went right to Universal Hub.

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Was on the T checking Facebook and some friends were posting about BFD--I figured something was up and came straight here. Heavy usage for good reason!

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I've been out all day, and when I heard about this fire, I thought, "I'll check UHub when I get back to my computer." I can't have been the only person who did that.

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No such thing as 10 alarm fire

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I only heard the call for 6 and 7 alarms, and then for 8 and 9 alarms. At least a couple people on Twitter claimed a 10th alarm was called, but I switched from Channel 1 to Channel 2 by that point so I was none the wiser.

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WBZ reporting two firefighters killed

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I live a few blocks away. We've had three big fires within three blocks of our home in recent years and everytime my husband and I listened on the scanners, aware of the danger to the firefighters. The first guys in may have been from Engine 33 and Ladder 15 on Boylston Street.

Those of the men who come to our building anytime someone here needs medical assistance or an alarm goes off.

Thinking of the rest of the fire company and the individual families.

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In the winter, I have a fairly clear view of the Pru and Hancock from my window at home.

I saw the smoke plume, knew something bad was up. So sad to hear about all the firefighters ... it sounds like a very bad scene all around.

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In the past week or two there seems to be a number of high profile fires. Is this bad luck or are the authorities suspecting arson as they did in Somerville last summer. (And did they ever catch the Somerville arsonist?)

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With the cold today I wouldn't be surprised if it was a space heater or similar malfunction, but just my opinion. If it is arson, they better catch the bastard and burn him at the stake. He would be charged with arson and two counts of homocide

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They did not catch the Somerville arsonist, no.

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God bless their families and the other firefighters on scene. Hoping for the best as they battle to keep our city safe.

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How sad. With the wind as horrible as it was today, it is impressive that the BFD kept the fire from spreading and did not lose more. They did an amazing job, even after they must have known of this tragedy.

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Thoughts and Prayers to all our first responders who day in and day out serve us with little thought to their own safety.

If this was caused by careless disposal of a cigarette or something... whoa boy.

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It was very depressing hearing 33 keep calling for more water in their line after starting their mayday call.

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